Maharashtra's new Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the first meeting of the cabinet overturned the previous government's decision to put on hold the construction of the Metro 3 car shed in Aarey and shift it to the 102-acre Kanjurmarg plot.
However, former CM Uddhav Thackeray was very angry about this decision. He also appealed to the government not to go ahead with the Metro-3 car shed project in Aarey Colony, the green belt of the Goregaon suburb. The area was declared a protected forest by the MVA government.
Uddhav Thackeray also asked the BJP not to cheat Mumbai as if it had "betrayed" them. He said that he is saddened by the move by the new Maharashtra government to move the Metro car shed from Kanjurmarg in Mumbai to Aarey Colony.
In the first meeting of the cabinet, Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had directed the state administration to submit a proposal to build a Metro-3 car shed in Aarey Colony instead of Kanjurmarg. The Thackeray-led government had shifted the proposed car shed site from Aarey Colony to Kanjurmarg, but the decision was embroiled in a legal dispute.
Uddhav Thackeray asked the BJP why it had earlier said that two-and-a-half years ago there was no agreement on rotational chief ministership. He said that if the BJP had obeyed, then the change of power would have happened in a gracious and dignified manner.
The Maharashtra unit of Congress on Friday alleged that the Eknath Shinde government's decision to build a metro crash in Mumbai's Aarey forest area is the first setback for the people of the city and the move amounted to playing with the health of the people. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress President Nana Patole told reporters here that keeping in view the environmental damage (cutting of trees and construction in green areas), the decision was taken to build the car shed of Metro Line-3 at Kanjurmarg instead of Aarey.
He said, "The newly formed government is adopting a stubborn attitude towards the construction of car sheds in Aarey which is playing with the health of Mumbaikars. Environmentalists and Mumbaikars are against it and thousands of people protested against the then Fadnavis government.
Patole said, "We are not against development, we are not against the Mumbai Metro project. To facilitate the movement of Mumbaikars, the Congress-led government was the first to decide to build the metro project. Congress is in favour of ensuring synergy between development and the environment.