Calling for sustainable development and stating his opposition to “ecological destruction,” Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray on Wednesday red-flagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet $90 billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project that will link Nhava Sheva port near Mumbai with Dadri in Uttar Pradesh.
In a series of tweets, the Yuva Sena chief announced that the Shiv Sena will not support the destruction of the forest cover in Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) for the proposed dedicated freight corridor. He added that the proposed freight corridor could be realigned. “The party is all for sustainable development, but not ecological destruction. Not opposed to corridor, but must be realigned to save forest”, tweeted Mr Thackeray.
Reacting to reports appearing in a section of the media about 58 hectares of forest land in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) being set aside for the project — which includes 10 hectares of forest land from SGNP,— he said, “SGNP is one of its kind where Mumbai is probably the only city to have such a biodiversity rich forest within our city limits.”
He further wrote, “Proposed Metro Yard, proposed housing in buffer zone, proposed rail freight line, all through a rich ecosystem will destroy Mumbai. The party will not allow destruction of Mumbai. Delhi-Mumbai corridor is from Dadri to Nhava Sheva can avoid forest destruction. Once again, all for development. But has to be sustainable. Do not kill Mumbai, do not kill forests in Mumbai and Thane for such projects”.
This is the second time the Yuva Sena chief has opposed one of the PM’s pet projects. Mr Thackeray had earlier opposed installing Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamps at Marine Drive, which had sparked a Twitter war between him and the BJP’s city president Ashih Shelar.
On February 29, the state forest department issued orders to de-reserve 58 hectares of forest land for the DMIC project. The forest land area covers 10.55 hectares in SGNP, 16.17 hectares in Thane and 31.11 hectares in Dahanu forest division. The DMIC project will originate from Maharashtra and the 1,500 km dedicated rail freight corridor will connect states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
