Shiv Sena (UBT), BJP leaders spar over Coastal Road hoardings at BMC
Aaditya Thackeray made a vehement argument about the danger of putting up four to five hoardings planned on the open spaces along the Coastal Road
Mumbai: Political theatrics ensued in the headquarters of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday afternoon, thanks to back-to-back appointments between Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ashish Shelar with municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani.
Soon after he walked in at 2pm, Thackeray made a vehement argument about the danger of putting up four to five hoardings planned on the open spaces along the Coastal Road. He had dashed off a letter to Gagrani voicing his concern on Sunday.
In the letter he stated, “As we hear, multiple sets of hoardings have been approved at Tata Gardens and Haji Ali Gardens along the Coastal Road to benefit contractor friends of BJP.” He promised to scrap the tenders and demolish the hoardings “once the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is voted back to power”.
Thackeray then pointed his gun at BMC for appointing a blacklisted contractor for concretisation of Mumbai’s roads and underlined that it should be cancelled. He brought up issues of redevelopment of the Buddha Vihar on Arthur Road, Samaj Mandir and Markandeshwar Mandir. Many SRA projects are being planned here and residents have been demanding that these religious places also be redeveloped. He spoke about speeding up work at Meghnagar Housing Society, whose redevelopment has been stuck over a period of time; repairs of Worli Koliwada road, sidewalks on the Delisle bridge; and adding amenities at the Worli Hindu crematorium. He also told the commissioner to raise the stipend given to resident doctors at BMC hospitals and offer financial support for BEST.
He added, given the upcoming Ganesh Chaturthi, roads be made immersion-ready and artificial ponds set up in every ward.
After his hour-long meeting ended, Ashish Shelar walked in with MLAs Mihir Kotecha and Manisha Chaudhary. Together, they asked Gagrani about Thackeray’s allegations on the civic body’s approval of hoardings on reclaimed land along Coastal Road, following which Shelar called it a play of “bhoot, bhay aur bhaitad (ghost, fear, bait),” adding, no hoarding will come up on the Coastal Road.
“Thackeray is speaking about permissions for hoarding on land that has not been reclaimed for the Coastal Road. Permissions for hoardings at the two locations (Tata Gardens and Haji Ali Gardens) have not yet been given. He is indulging in fear-mongering over nothing,” said Shelar.
He added: “The permission for reclamation was granted on condition that the reclaimed land would only be used for open space or recreational purposes, with no construction or commercial use allowed. When Thackeray was environment minister in the MVA government, the state government was supposed to submit a conditional affidavit to that effect to BMC. However, it was only the Fadnavis government that submitted the affidavit. We therefore demand an inquiry into why MVA government did not submit the affidavit.”
Putting all allegations to rest, Gagrani said, “Permissions for the hoardings are given subject to CRZ clearance, and it is not on the reclaimed land for the Coastal road. As per the directions of the Supreme Court, such permission cannot be given.”