To see the three-party alliance of the Maha Vikas Aghadi to have the same stance on any public issue continues to be a dream for Maharashtra. Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray especially continues to flip flop on every major issue case in point being the CAA and NPR, as he seems to be religiously following Arvind Kejriwal’s odd-even scheme. After protesting and staying the construction of Aarey Car Shed, Shiv Sena led BMC has approved the tree felling for Metro 2A.
In yet another major U-turn by Shiv Sena, the Tree Authority of the BMC has approved the felling of more than 150 trees for the Mumbai Metro 2A project.
BJP leader Kirit Somaiya hit out at Shiv Sena over its constant change of stance over the Metro project as he remarked, “The Tree Authority of the Shiv Sena-led Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has given the permission to remove 508 trees for the Mumbai Metro 2A project. 162 trees will be cut. On the other hand, it has been 100 days since the construction of Metro car shed in Aarey has been halted in the name of ‘saving trees’. There has been a loss of Rs. 1000 crore but the ban has not been lifted. Uddhav, your government is weird.”
It is important to note that the same Shiv Sena along with its new allies NCP and Congress had opposed the proposal for the felling of trees on the last two occasions.
While Uddhav Thackeray supports the felling of trees for the Metro 2A project, one of the first decision that he took after assuming the chair of Maharashtra CM was to stop the construction of the Aarey Car Shed as he asserted that a single leaf in Aarey would not be cut.
After doing vicious politics over the felling of about 2700 trees in a 25-hectare land area in Aarey colony, Uddhav Thackeray, as he came to power, appointed a 4-member committee to look at possible alternative sites for building a car shed on the 33.5 km long Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Mumbai metro line instead of the earlier proposed location at Aarey milk colony.
In a tight slap to the fake activism of the environmentalists and the Bollywood fraternity, the high-level committee recommended not to shift the Aarey car shed citing issues such as increased costs, logistical issues and delays in completion of the project. The committee was presided by additional chief secretary (finance) Manoj Saunik.
Despite the recommendations of the committee, Uddhav Thackeray is refusing to decide on the Aarey car shed and continues to stall its construction as his son Aaditya Thackeray had campaigned aggressively against the project.
The MVA government meanwhile, has also transferred Ashwini Bhide, one of the state’s most efficient IAS officers and the Managing Director (MD) of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL). Bhide emphasised that the delay in the construction is leading to the massive cost overruns which ran into crores of rupees per day.
IAS officer who stood her ground on Aarey metro shed told to pack up by Uddhav Govt
It is estimated that the delay in the construction has resulted in a loss of Rs 1000 crore. But I guess that doesn’t matter. Just look at the upside, the Maharashtra government recently sanctioned cutting down of 724 trees in Navi Mumbai for building a golf course, and Aaditya Thackeray isn’t complaining because he just found a new ground to play around.
The common man continues to be a mere bystander as the Thackerays toy around with Maharashtra as if it is their playground. Meanwhile all the wannabe climate activists like Dia Mirza, Richa Chaddha, Manoj Bajpayee and the likes have gone missing after enjoying global attention when they protested against the BJP government.