Do you remember the famous Aarey Colony Metro shed project? The same project which engulfed in a massive controversy just before the last Assembly elections in Maharashtra.
Shivsena was the first political party, which was throwing its weight behind activists and protesting against the chopping of trees in Mumbai’s Aarey Colony. It was Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who promised to take action against those responsible if voted to power.
He did make a scathing statement, that “The upcoming government will be our government, and once we come to power once again, we will deal with the murderers of Aarey forest in the best possible manner,”.
It was Aaditya Thackeray, who gave it a spin and made it an environmental issue and accused the then Chief Minister of acting against the environment of Aarey forest. He did participate in several campaigns against this project and portrayed Shivsena as a harbinger of environmental concerns.
However, in a recent case, the Shivsena and Aaditya Thackeray are doing exactly the opposite of what they were claiming a few months back. If you remember, Aaditya Thackeray launched his pet project for Powai lake, where beautification work is being conducted by the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC), along with the new bicycle and jogging track that is to be constructed in the area.
This project is good for the local environment and it may have several negative repercussions for the local ecology in long term.
Recently, a team of IIT-Bombay students has raised a severe complaint, where they have raised the issue of deliberate exploitation of the environment at Powai lake due to the pet project of Aaditya Thackeray. These students have lodged a formal complaint with the NGT chairman and requested him to put an immediate stay on the project till further investigations and orders.
Well, we are not surprised by this, as it was clear from the day-1 that Shivsena and Thackerays are playing this game under the garb of environmental concerns, where on one hand they strive hard to stall the Aarey metro shed project, but at the same time they are running such projects which have a grave impact on the environment.
