‘Destroying Mumbai’: Aaditya Thackeray slams BJP for diverting Mulund’s open spaces

Thackeray accused the BJP-led government of changing reservations on open spaces to benefit BJP-linked organisations, adding that 17-18 open grounds in Mumbai had been “taken away” over the past four years.

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray visited Mulund East on Saturday and slammed the BJP for handing over open spaces to private parties. He inspected the area’s open spaces and voiced his opposition to the proposal to change the reservation of a 40,000-square-foot plot earmarked for a sports complex.

Aaditya Thackeray arrives at the Vidhan Bhavan to meet the Maharashtra education minister Vinod Tawde, in Mumbai. (Kunal Patil/HT photo)

“Although a plot opposite Orchid International School is reserved for a fuel station, the adjacent plot, which is reserved for a sports facility, is being sought by a private fuel company. We will not allow the reservation to be changed under any circumstances,” Thackeray said.

Continuing his tirade, Thackeray accused the BJP-led government of changing reservations on open spaces to benefit BJP-linked organisations, adding that 17-18 open grounds in Mumbai had been “taken away” over the past four years. He alleged that the government is keen to hand over 22 BEST depots, two plots in Mulund, the Neville D’Souza football ground in Bandra, and open spaces in the Andheri-Juhu area to these organisations.

He called upon Mulund residents to join the Tiranga rally on Sunday evening, irrespective of their political ideology, to save Mumbai’s open spaces, “The protest is not political. If Mumbai loses its open grounds, there will be no space left even to breathe freely. If there are no grounds left for Gen Z, where will they play?” Thackeray questioned. He also slammed the BMC’s Improvement Committee for “destroying Mumbai”. Thackeray had called for the ‘Tiranga rally’ on Thursday.

BJP MLA from Mulund Mihir Kotecha refuted Thackeray’s allegations, calling them baseless and advising him to do some homework before speaking. “There has been a demand for a petrol pump in the area for the last 50 years. After two years of effort, there will finally be a petrol pump here. A sports complex spread over 1.5 acres is going to be developed about 400 feet away, while the 10-acre-plus Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Garden is also nearby. Yet, Aaditya Thackeray is upset,” Kotecha said.