‘Aarey shed will meet same fate as Nanar’: Uddhav Thackeray

BJP claims it is pressure tactic by Shiv Sena to get equal seats for the upcoming state Assembly polls

A day after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray indicated his party was ready with a backup plan to contest the upcoming Assembly polls solo, he upped his party’s opposition to the construction of a car shed for the Metro-3 project in Aarey Milk Colony. Thackeray, in a press conference on Monday, said that Aarey would meet the same fate as the Nanar oil refinery project in Ratnagiri district, which the Sena had opposed and which was formally scrapped in March, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

On September 13, the tree authority of the Sena-controlled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) gave the final nod to axe 2,185 trees and transplant 461 trees on the plot where the car depot has been proposed. (HT FILE)

With Assembly polls around the corner and a seat-sharing formula between the two saffron partners undecided due to one-upmanship, the car shed issue could turn into a serious bone of contention.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Thackeray said, “Whatever happened in the case of Nanar [oil refinery project], the same will happen to Aarey.”

While Bharatiya Janata Party said this was just a pressure tactic to secure an equal seat-sharing formula, a senior Sena leader denied this. The Sena leader said on condition of anonymity that the Sena stood to benefit electorally if it was able to stop the construction of Metro-3 car shed in Aarey Milk Colony. “A large chunk of people who are against this project are BJP voters. Many of them are young people, they see how Aaditya is spearheading the campaign. If the decision to house the depot there is overturned, then we stand to gain electorally. Also, Sena has been opposing the depot in Aarey for many years so it is not a poll gimmick either,” he said.

On September 13, the tree authority of the Sena-controlled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) gave the final nod to axe 2,185 trees and transplant 461 trees on the plot where the car depot has been proposed. Sena members in the tree authority had voted against the proposal. Aaditya Thackeray has been campaigning against the project and said that the Sena would not “tolerate” Aarey Milk Colony being touched. “It is not about 2,700 trees but about the biodiversity within Aarey Colony. Trees can be replaced, transplanted, but we are talking about conservation of biodiversity,” Aaditya said last week. He has also demanded courts intervene and the tree cutting be put to a revote.

Responding to Aaditya’s attacks, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said Aarey Milk Colony is government land and not a forest.

“We also do not want the trees to be axed, but the facts need to be understood... I can understand the view of Aaditya on this tree-felling issue, but he should understand what is going on in the minds of the handful of people opposing it,” he told reporters in Pune on Sunday.