Gajanan Kirtikar is the Member of Parliament from Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency. The Shiv Sena leader spoke to HT about his performance during his tenure.
What are your achievements as an MP of the Mumbai North West constituency? Your opponents say you haven’t done much.
In the past five years, I have emphasised on modernising suburban railway stations. It includes the upgrade of Andheri, Jogeshwari and Goregaon railway stations, by extending the Harbour line to Borivli. A majority of the administrative work for the Doppler Radar has been completed and only the installation needs to be done. I have rigorously followed up with the home ministry to rename Oshiwara railway station to Ram Mandir. I got at least ₹80 crore sanctioned to clear the accumulated muck in the creek bed of Versova coastline, which was a long-pending demand. The work will ensure smooth and safe passage of boats and ships, which will benefit the fishermen.
People from your constituency feel you are not approachable, some say you have not visited their area since the 2014 election. Comment.
People directly walk into my office with their issues, or meet me at social gatherings or programmes that we conduct across the constituency. They also write to us on social media. There has not been a single person whose grievance has not been addressed by me or my staff. People need to reach out to me if they have any issue. We plan to set up camps with party workers in the remotest areas to increase our bandwidth. This will help me stay in constant touch with people across the constituency.
{{/usCountry}}People directly walk into my office with their issues, or meet me at social gatherings or programmes that we conduct across the constituency. They also write to us on social media. There has not been a single person whose grievance has not been addressed by me or my staff. People need to reach out to me if they have any issue. We plan to set up camps with party workers in the remotest areas to increase our bandwidth. This will help me stay in constant touch with people across the constituency.
{{/usCountry}}People from your constituency have complained of traffic congestion, mainly owing to the Metro work? What have you done during your tenure to improve the situation?
Evidently, the Metro work has added on to the traffic congestion. We cleared the encroachment on the extended stretch of the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road to ease it. Several crucial road widening projects have been successfully implemented in the constituency. We also identified roads that can be used by motorists, but are currently encroached upon. These roads can be freed of encroachment, to create more space for vehicles.