Hitting back at Mr Fadnavis, the Maharashtra CM said if wanting the best for Mumbai was “arrogance” then he admitted to the fault.
Mumbai| Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said infrastructure works undertaken in haste can lead to waste and not true development. His comments came days after the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis demanded Mr Thackeray and the Shiv Sena-led state government give up its “ego” and resume construction of the controversial metro car shed project at Mumbai’s Aarey Colony.
Hitting back at Mr Fadnavis, the Maharashtra CM said if wanting the best for Mumbai was “arrogance” then he admitted to the fault.
“I am being called ‘arrogant’ on the subject of the Metro car shed. Yes, I am arrogant for Mumbai. We sent the car shed to Kanjurmarg because building it in Aarey was destroying the forest there. First, trees would have been cut for a car shed… then for something else… and slowly the whole forest would have disappeared,” Mr Thackeray said.
“It is not true that for development to occur things must only be done quickly. Working in haste can lead to losses and waste. We want development… but for present and future generations,” he added, pointing out that this was going on despite reduced cash flow.
“We decided to build the car shed at Kanjurmarg because in Aarey only Metro 3 shed would have been possible. In Kanjurmarg, sheds for Metro 3, 4, and 6 are possible. There is also space here for further expansion of the project. If we built in Aarey, it would have been useful for five years. In Kanjurmarg it will be useful for 50 years,” the Shiv Sena chief said.
“You (people of Maharashtra) please tell me… what is the arrogance in this?” Mr Thackeray asked.
Last week, the Bombay High court here, in a setback to the Maharashtra government, passed an interim order Wednesday, staying the transfer of 102-acres of land to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to build a metro car shed. The order came in a petition from the centre, which has claimed the land belonged to it.
Through the Mumbai Suburban District Collector, the state government had ordered the transfer of the Kanjurmarg salt pan land on October 1. On October 6, it was handed over to MMRDA. Subsequently, MMRDA transferred the land to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRCL) on October 8.
A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish S Kulkarni, in its order, restrained DMRCL from carrying out its ongoing operations on the land till further orders. The case will be heard next in February 2021.
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