'Don't Take Out Anger Against Us On Mumbai': Aaditya Thackeray Joins Protest Against Aarey Metro Project

Claiming metros go for maintenance every three-four months and not every night, Thackeray said that the government can build the shed in Kanjurmarg, which was proposed instead of the Aarey area.

Aaditya Thackeray said that this is a fight for Mumbai and its forest life.

Source : ANI

New Delhi: During a protest over the construction of metro car sheds in the Aarey colony forest on Sunday, the former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray said that the 808-acre area there was reserved as a forest to preserve the wildlife and biodiversity in the city. "I appeal to the new state government (led by CM Eknath Shinde) not to take out the anger against us on Mumbai," Thackeray told reporters, as quoted by news agency PTI. In the Aarey forest, often termed the city’s ‘green lung’, located in Goregaon's western suburb, some 300 different varieties of flora and fauna are found, including a large number of leopards.

Thackeray said the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, wherein he had served as the tourism and environment minister, was "pro-Mumbai, pro-Maharashtra and a votary of sustainable development".

According to ANI, Thackeray said that this is a fight for Mumbai and its forest life.

"Under our government, we had declared 808 acres of land as forests. We fought for forests to protect our tribals. When we were here, no trees were uprooted," he was quoted as saying by ANI.

He claimed that the metros go for maintenance every three-four months and not every night, so it is possible for the government to build the sheds in Kanjurmarg, in east-central Mumbai. 

"If sheds are built in Kanjurmarg, forest life will be preserved, along with tribal life and money," he said, according to ANI.

He further said, "Whatever anger they (Maharashtra government) have against us should not be taken out on the city. Jungles and the environment need to be protected with climate change upon us. We had proposed the construction to be turned into a veterinary hospital for the jungle."

For several years, the Aarey metro project has been an issue in Mumbai, on July 3, Aaditya Thackeray urged the newly inducted Eknath Shinde government to scrap the re-proposed Aarey metro project.

(With Agency Inputs)