Aaditya Thackeray hits street against Shinde’s decision to shift Metro car shed

Aaditya attacked the Shinde government for issuing stay orders on various decisions taken by the previous government

Weeks after the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray was toppled, Thackeray scion and former environment minister Aaditya Thackeray hit the streets on Sunday against the Eknath Shinde-led government’s decision to shift the Metro-III depot to the Aarey milk colony.

Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray joins the protesters during 'Save Aarey' protest against on Sunday (Pratik Chorge/HT Photo)

Aaditya attacked the Shinde government for issuing stay orders on various decisions taken by the previous government, which collapsed after a rebellion of Sena MLAs led by Shinde, and later visited Shiv Sena shakhas in north Mumbai to galvanize the party cadre.

Aaditya said that the MVA government had shifted the car depot to Kanjurmarg and the land could be used to house composite depots for four metro railway routes -- III (Colaba to SEEPZ), IV (Wadala to Gaimukh), VI (Swami Samarth Nagar to Kanjurmarg) and XIV (Badlapur-Kanjurmarg). “Depots for four lines would have been at one place. This would have saved between ₹8,500 to ₹10,000 crore,” he added.

During the Devendra Fadnavis-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena regime, the Sena was at odds with its ally over the construction of the depot in the Aarey forests. Relocation of the Metro car shed from Aarey to Kanjurmarg was among the first decisions that the MVA had taken after coming to power in 2019. However, the land, which measures 102 acres, is caught in a legal dispute.

Aaditya charged that the planning for the Metro-III route was “faulty” as it had no stabilizing line. So, in case of a glitch, the entire 33 km route will have to be shut down for the train to be removed.

The Yuva Sena chief said that the issue of the car shed being developed in the Aarey forests was not just restricted to trees being cut, the area was also a habitat for leopards and the rusty-spotted cat. This also can counter the Central government’s position before the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) to protect green cover, he said.

“The MVA government was pro-Mumbai, pro-Maharashtra. We were working for sustainable development,” said Aaditya, pointing to how they had earmarked 808 acres of the Aarey milk colony as a reserve forest.

“…it feels like this is an anti-Mumbai government,” charged Aaditya, while questioning the decisions of the Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis regime to stay decisions taken by the MVA. He added that these stays would affect the people of Maharashtra.

Later, Aaditya visited Shiv Sena shakhas in Mumbai, including in the constituency of rebel Shiv Sena MLA Prakash Surve. “Those whom we reposed faith in, stabbed us in the back,” he charged daring them to face fresh elections.

He claimed that there were two groups of the dissidents—one which wanted to dislodge Uddhav from the chief minister’s chair, and the other, which included MLAs who had been taken to Surat and Guwahati forcibly.

“They (the rebels) say they have love for Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray. If they love us, then they must return to the Shiv Sena, we are ready to forgive them,” said Aaditya.