MMRDA responsible for destroying Mumbai: Uddhav Thackeray

Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday asked the state government to scrap Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), holding it responsible for destroying the city and its roads.

“The skywalks, metro, monorail and all other projects have wasted taxpayers’ money. MMRDA uses up the infrastructure created by BMC. The civic body’s roads are left with potholes and then the blame is shoved on it. If the road is getting damaged because of your [MMRDA’s] work, then you should rectify it. If you can’t do it, then there is no point in keeping such authorities and they should be scrapped,” said Thackeray.

Lashing out at the state government and the chief minister in particular, he alleged that the coordination committee meetings between MMRDA and the civic body have not been held purposefully. “The CM heads MMRDA. Has he ever bothered to hold these meetings?,” he said.

Calling Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s (MNS) agitation against potholes a stunt, he said such measures will not solve real problems.

On his part, MNS chief Raj Thackeray taunted BMC as the place where people are interested only in tenders. “This is an effort to shift the blame to others. These parties are contractors’ parties, from whom they get cuts,” he alleged.