MUMBAI: With the Centre and Maharashtra engaged in one-upmanship over the Metro car shed land issue, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said the two governments should work together for development and that there should be no ego tussle.
Addressing the people via a live webcast, Uddhav lamented that the Centre had moved court against his government over the issue of proposed Metro car shed at Kanjurmarg and said he was open for resolution of the issue through dialogue.
“I am accused of being an egoist. Yes, I am an egoist when it comes to the interests of Mumbaikars and the welfare of Maharashtra. We saved the environment by not proposing a metro car shed at Array colony,” Uddhav said.
The Bombay High Court had on Wednesday stayed the allotment of 102 acres of salt pan land in Mumbai’s Kanjurmarg area for construction of an integrated metro car shed.
The Centre and the Thackeray government are locked in a tussle over ownership of the land.
The project was earlier planned at Aarey Colony, a green belt. Thackeray said the Kanjurmarg land is 40 hectares is barren and grassy while Aarey land is only 25 hectares, of which five hectares is forest.
The Aarey site would have been inadequate in another five years while the government plans at Kanjurmarg are futuristic and would meet the needs for another 50 or 100 years, the CM claimed.
“If one has to indulge in one-upmanship, then what about the Centre’s bullet train project? It uses a land parcel worth thousands of crores in the Bandra Kurla Complex, which is the most expensive … I met farmers opposing the bullet train project and Wadhwan port. We do not believe in stopping farmers and spraying them with cold water... I am appealing to the opposition, ‘Let us resolve this issue. This can be done through dialogue. We will give you due credit. The issue is not about my ego and it shouldn’t be about yours, too,” he said.
“If you create problems in Kanjurmarg and we do in the BKC, it will serve no purpose… The Centre and state must sit together and negotiate. This land belongs to the people and must be used in their interests,” the CM said.
Former CM Devendra Fadnavis dismissed the contention that relocating the metro car shed would serve future needs and said it would result in waste of time and money.