Hoardings must not come up on Coastal Road’s open spaces: Aaditya to civic chief

Aaditya Thackeray met civic chief Bhushan Gagrani with other Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders at the BMC headquarters on Monday

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray has demanded hoardings should not be propped up on the Coastal Road's open spaces. BJP Mumbai chief Ashish Shelar, in response, claimed that Thackeray's (Maha Vikas Aghadi) government did not file an affidavit to ensure there were no such constructions.

After taking to X to share a letter he had written about the issue to civic chief Bhushan Gagrani on Sunday, Thackeray met the latter at the BMC headquarters the following day. During the meeting, he reiterated that no hoarding should be allowed on the Coastal Road's open spaces as they could cause accidents.

Following this, Shelar put out an open letter that claimed that while permitting the Coastal Road, the Union environment ministry demanded an affidavit stating that there should be no construction on its open spaces, but the Uddhav Thackeray government did not submit this affidavit. Shelar also demanded that an inquiry be conducted to find out why the affidavit was not filed.

Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) leader Milind Deora also took to X to slam Thackeray. "Focus on Worli, where I witnessed your unpopularity first hand on Saturday and where your candidate barely led by 6,500 votes in the Lok Sabha elections," the former Congress leader posted.

Meanwhile, Thackeray posted on X about his meeting with Gagrani. He demanded that the BMC extend financial support to BEST. "Its commitment to running buses at affordable rates must not be hampered by financial trouble and reduced fleet size. The roads must be repaired before the Ganpati festival," he posted.

Thackeray added that the Coastal Road landscape design must be discussed with local MP and MLA and no hoardings should be allowed on Coastal Roads or their gardens.

"Delisle road bridge was pushed due to our follow-up, and we've also been following up on the pedestrian pathway, along with the external foot overbridge. And most importantly, the tender for the blacklisted contractor in BMC for roads MUST be scrapped, along with the other five tender packages too (sic)," his post reads.

Thackeray Vs Thackeray

Talking with media persons at Solapur, MNS chief Raj Thackeray said his party would contest the Assembly poll from Worli. "We will field candidates wherever we think it's necessary. In 2009, when we conceded this constituency. Our candidate had secured 38,000 votes, he said. In 2019, when Aaditya Thackeray decided to contest the election from the Worli constituency. Raj Thackeray decided not to contest the election from Worli, stating that Aditya Thackeray was the first Thackeray to contest the election.

Asked about MNS entering the fray after his meeting with the Mumbai civic chief, Thackeray said, "MNS is a supari party. It has woken up after five years. During the pandemic, MNS was not visible. Even Joe Biden can contest the Worli seat."

38k votes
No. of votes secured by MNS in Worli Assembly seat in 2009