Aarey car-shed work suspended, announces Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai: In a significant development, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday announced that the work on the upcoming Mumbai Metro car-shed at the Aarey Colony has been suspended.

"The work on the Mumbai Metro will continue unhindered. However, the work of the car-shed will be suspended until further orders. We will not allow even a leaf from Aarey Colony to be removed," he asserted.

Thackeray's statement came barely two months after the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) authorities chopped down 2,141 trees in a few hours, or coming to one tree per minute, shocking the people of the state.

Addressing a meeting organised by the Mantralaya Reporters Association here this evening, he pointed out that he had become the first CM of the state from Mumbai, the country's commercial capital and would ensure that "not a single paise of public money" is misused or spent wrongly.

To a question whether the Maha Vikas Aghadi of Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress had diluted the Sena's 'saffron' colour, he managed a hearty laugh.

"I was born with this (saffron) colour. No laundry can ever wash it off," the CM said amidst a loud round of applause.

Thackeray said he would welcome any "constructive criticism" by the media on any aspects of the government or governance always, and agreed to consider suggestions put forth by media persons.

On how he felt about taking over as the Chief Minister, he candidly admitted that in his entire life, he had barely come to Mantralaya on a couple of occasions and has "not even seen the Vidhan Bhavan from inside".

"However, I have taken up the challenges of the MVA government. I will not run away from my responsibilities," he declared.

This was the new Chief Minister's first informal media interaction with the journalists who cover the Mantralaya and Legislature, where he appeared a tad weary, but cheerful, after his first day at work.