Maharashtra polls: Encroachment tops agenda as three Senas clash in Magathane

Magathane is a blend of housing societies and SRA buildings standing between narrow roads and a metro rail line

MUMBAI: The three Senas—Shiv Sena, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena—are set to clash at Magathane, a sub-locality of Borivali East. The issues here largely pertain to encroachments inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, rehabilitation of slums and poor water supply.

Magathane is a sub-locality of Borivali East. . (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

While two-time sitting MLA Prakash Surve of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena claimed he had work to show which could get him get re-elected, MNS candidate Nayan Kadam bashed the Mahayuti and MVA for promoting sops like the Ladki Bahin Yojana instead of giving people jobs. The Sena (UBT) is represented by Udesh Patekar.

Magathane is a blend of housing societies, portions of which border the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, and SRA buildings standing between narrow roads and a metro rail line running parallel to the Western Express Highway. The constituency has eight candidates—both independents and from big and small political parties—wooing over three million voters. Residents claim that one of the biggest issues here is the encroachments inside the national park. There is also the issue of poor roads leading to traffic snarls.

The constituency was created after the delimitation exercise in 2008, with its first elected MLA Pravin Darekar winning on an MNS ticket. Darekar, after losing the seat in 2014, joined the BJP. The sitting MLA now is Prakash Surve, who won in 2014 and 2019. When asked if he could achieve a hat trick, Surve said: “I have been available for the janata and attended to all their issues, big or small. From taking up slum redevelopment to streamlining the water supply to slums, from ensuring that adivasis in the forest get an Aadhar card to demanding and getting the Borivali-Thane twin tunnel road approved, I have always been there. Now I leave it to people to decide my fate.”

Surve said there were at least 700 families that would be affected by the twin tunnel project for the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road, which will go underneath the forest. “I have been in touch with the authorities to ensure that they get in-situ rehabilitation,” he said. “My prime focus now will be redevelopment of slums in the constituency.”

The BJP has been harping on the efforts it took to redevelop the Devipada slums under the SRA and rehabilitate several hundred families for which crores of rupees were allotted. However, Nayan Kadam, the MNS candidate, dismissed this as an empty claim.

“The Devipada SRA project has been hanging fire since 2016-17, and at least 900 families are staying away from their own homes,” he said. “We stepped in and cleaned up whichever houses were possible and asked a few families to come back there, as they were spending money on rent. What was the sitting MLA doing all these years? There are quite a few SRA projects that are stuck. Our party has been there for people, be it those staying in SRA buildings or for Covid care in the past.”

The parties in the running expressed confidence that voters from slum pockets, LIG housing and plush housing societies—basically everyone—would vote for them. Patekar of the Sena (UBT) was unavailable for his views. Magathane is a BJP bastion, from where union minister Piyush Goyal was elected in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.