Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday reacted to leader of Opposition in state assembly Devendra Fadnavis's remark on the Metro car shed issue from Aarey Colony.
The BJP leader asked the Maharashtra government to reconsider the proposal to shift the Metro car shed from Aarey Colony (Mumbai's green lung) to Pahadi Goregaon, and said the government should function for people and not to satisfy egos.
CM Thackeray said that there should be no ego and shortcuts at work. The BJP took shortcut and in the night started cutting the trees in Aarey. We (MVA goverment) started doing work during the day unlike the BJP, said the CM to Fadnavis.
Devendra Fadnavis, whose government had come under fire from green activists in October 2019, when over 2,000 trees were felled in Aarey Colony, for the carshed in the thick of the night.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray addressed the second and last day of the monsoon session of the Assembly.
"I consider it my good fortune that I became the first person born in Mumbai to be the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. People's welfare and conservation of the forests both are important. Whatever work we do is done during the day, not at night," he said.
Without wasting the money spent on the Metro project, we are considering if more and more Mumbaikars can benefit through the Metro. Part of Aarey has been declared as a forest. This is a jungle that some people have no idea about anywhere in the world. There are forests around cities around the world. However, there are no animals. This has led to the idea of coexistence. "I am satisfied that we have been able to secure the habitat of animals and birds," Thackeray said.