Congress legislator from Mumbai, Bhai Jagtap, on Thursday hit out at the BJP in the state Legislative Council over the issue of the construction of a car shed in the city’s Aarey Milk Colony for Metro-3, alleging that trees in the Aarey forest will be cut down for the purpose.
He also accused the BJP of facilitating builders to grab the Kanjurmarg land, where the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government had planned an integrated Metro car shed for three Metros, including Metro-3.
“They are now saying that the trees will not be cut at Aarey but it will be cut. They are trying to destroy Mumbai for their ego,” Jagtap said. In the first Cabinet meeting itself, the government had decided to overturn the decision of moving the Mumbai Metro-3 car shed from Aarey to Kanjurmarg, he alleged.
Jagtap made these remarks while Legislative Council Opposition leader Shiv Sena MLC Ambadas Danve’s proposal on law and order and development-related issues was raised for discussion.
The BJP, Jagtap said, was trying to leave the Kanjurmarg plot, which is around 1,000 acres, to make some builders happy and shifting the car shed to Aarey, which is a forest land and considered to be the lungs of Mumbai.
“The Kanjurmarg land is 1,008 acres, owned by the state and central government. They want to give the Kanjurmarg land to the builders and hence they do not want the car shed there. The technical committee has given a report stating that if the car shed is built at Kanjurmarg then the government’s Rs 1,200 crore would be saved but the party is still lying. The builder who had claimed the Kanjurmarg land incidentally withdrew the case from the court as soon as this new government was formed,” Jagtap alleged.
Jagtap also accused the state BJP leaders of trying to please Prime Minister Narendra Modi and alleged that they were moving important institutions from Mumbai to Gujarat. “The financial centre of BKC (Bandra Kurla Complex) has been moved from here to Gujarat,” Jagtap said.
When Jagtap took swipes at the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs and mentioned that they had taken “50 boxes (Rs 50 crore)” to switch sides, MLA and minister Dada Bhuse of the Eknath Shinde group objected, saying that Jagtap should think before making such statements.
Jagtap also raised the issue of AK-47 guns found in a yacht off the Raigad coastline last week.
The Devendra Fadnavis led BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra had planned a Metro-3 car shed at Aarey Milk Colony. However, the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government decided to shift it from Aarey to Kanjurmarg after opposition by environmentalists.
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