Verbal spat erupts in Assembly between ruling and opposition MLAs over infra projects

Mumbai: Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, ruling parties moved a long-duration debate motion on infrastructure projects in the city showcasing the development projects under implementation in the city. In the attempt, they also took potshots at the opposition leading to verbal exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches.
Mumbai BJP chief and Bandra MLA Ashish Shelar while opening the debate in the lower house on Wednesday, demanded a white paper on the inequitable supply of water to the citizens in the city and held the Thackeray faction of Sena responsible for it, while Congress MLA Varsha Gaikwad attacked BJP and Adani Group over the redevelopment of Dharavi.
Shelar said that the BMC which was controlled by the Thackeray family over the last 25 years could not give adequate water to the citizens despite spending ₹30,000 crore. “The round-the-clock water supply drive has failed and needs to be investigated thoroughly to bring the facts behind it to the fore. The government should publish a white paper on it. The city and suburbs are witnessing inequitable and inadequate water supply and the Thackeray family who controlled the BMC for over 25 years should be held responsible for it. The civic body implemented a round-the-clock water supply scheme as a pilot project and paid ₹400 crore to the consultant. The project failed and there are a lot of irregularities, which need to be investigated,” he said.
He also blamed the Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government for stalling the Aarey car shed that delayed Metro-3 for more than two years and led to the escalation of price by ₹10,000 crore.
On the other hand, Congress MLA and Mumbai unit chief of the party Varsha Gaikwad targeted Bharatiya Janata Party and prime minister Narendra Modi over the Adani bagged Dharavi redevelopment project. “The ‘friend’ is getting all contracts right from Dharavi to the airport colony. “The contracts are being alloted to Adani as if the land belonging to the government is the land owned by Adani. Two guardian ministers have been operating from BMC by putting pressure on the commissioner in the civic body. The police commissioner and officers who are facing ED inquiry should be immediately transferred,” she said.
Gaikwad’s remarks led to a spat between the treasury and opposition benches. BJP MLAs took strong objections to the references related to ‘friendship’. BJP MLA Amit Satam warned Gaikwad to not name Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he has no relations with the project. “Should I talk about Rahul Gandhi’s ‘tamasha’,” Satam questioned. This led to verbal exchanges from both sides.
The motion moved by the ruling parties was to showcase the concretisation of roads measuring 450 kms, installation of 7 sewage treatment plants, completion of almost all the ongoing Metro projects in the next two years, various tax rebates and tweaking of the rules to facilitate the redevelopment of old, cessed buildings in the city. The BJP MLAs while participating in the debate expressed their gratitude towards the government for facilitating self-redevelopment, redevelopment of 7 markets, and construction of ₹6,700 crore missing link on the Mumbai-Pune expressway, tunnel between Borivali and Thane among others.
The motion is seen as a bid of the ruling parties, especially BJP to project the development works undertaken by the government, ahead of the ensuing Lok Sabha. According to the BJP leaders, the motion was on the lines of “Dhanywad Devendra ji’ drive undertaken by the party recently. The drive projects various projects implemented by the state government and under the leadership of Fadnavis.