Port land first belongs to Mumbai: Aaditya
MUMBAI : The Shiv Sena favours using Mumbai’s eastern waterfront to create free, open spaces for citizens, instead of exploiting it entirely for commercial development, the party’s youth wing chief Aaditya Thackeray said.
“We have often spoken about the east coast and how it could be developed into a fantastic open space without attaching any commercial value,” Thackeray said in an interview with Hindustan Times — which has been highlighting how a new plan for the land might take away Mumbai’s last chance for more open spaces.
There has been considerable debate over the use of the idle port land, after Mumbai Port Trust (MBPT), which owns it, released a draft development plan for 966.3 hectares from Colaba to Wadala.
While an earlier report by a panel headed by former MBPT chairperson Rani Jadhav suggested setting aside 30% for gardens and spaces for art and cultural activities, MBPT’S plan brought this down to 7.6%. “We praise cities around the world and see value in green spaces there. Why don’t we do the same here,”said Thackeray, adding the Jadhav panel report should be made public “before letting an opaque, non-democratic institution like the MBPT exploit our city commercially”. Thackeray added that the land was under the port trust as it was a port, but it belongs “rightfully to Mumbai”.
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