Contestation erupts over NITI Aayog’s offer for profitable development of Mumbai; opposition parties claim it’s an attempt to control Mumbai from Delhi and separate it from Maharashtra.
Mumbai A contestation has erupted over the NITI Aayog offer to prepare a plan for the profitable development of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region( MMR), with the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi( MVA) taking an aggressive stage against it.
Shiv Sena( UBT) chairman Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday called it an attempt to end the civil structure of the country and a conspiracy to control Mumbai from Delhi with the ultimate end of separating Mumbai from Maharashtra. Thackeray also said the plan would be scrapped once the INDIA coalition came to power.
BVR Subramanyam, principal administrative officer of NITI Aayog, held a meeting with principal minister Eknath Shinde and deputy principal ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar at Mantralaya on Tuesday.
The central government suppose- tank has included MMR in the four metropolises named for an profitable masterplan for rapid-fire profitable growth in the coming seven times.
NITI Aayog will present the design of the masterplan in the coming four months. Anticipating that 70 percent of the public GDP will come from metropolises by 2030, the think- tank has been fastening on 20 metropolises in India that have the eventuality to grow.
It has set a target of$ 300 billion from MMR by 2030. The state government, on its part, has constituted a commission of elderly officers to apply the plan. Speaking at a press conference on the dusk of the INDIA coalition’s Mumbai conclave,
Thackeray slammed the move, calling it a Modi government conspiracy to control Mumbai on the heels of its passing a bill to control the administration in Delhi. The Constitution has given the country a federal structure but the plan by Niti Ayog is to damage it,” he said.
Thackeray stated that it was now evident to the public why the MVA government had been deposed by the BJP. “When I was chief minister, the Centre did not dare to put forth a proposal allowing it to intervene in state matters,” he said.
“Their plan is clearly to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra and make it a union territory.”
The Shiv Sena (UBT) chairman stated that the BJP’s efforts to rule states and cities began with the Delhi law. “Every state has similar rights, and apart from one or two things, the Centre can intervene,” he said. “But this central government is increasing its interference every day and encroaching on the autonomy of states. However, this is a matter of a few days—once the INDIA government comes to power at the Centre and the MVA government in the state, we will scrap all such decisions.”
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The NCP and Congress both argued that the NITI Aayog plan was not in Maharashtra’s best interests. It is an attempt to reduce the importance of Mumbai and Maharashtra,” said NCP MLA Rohit Pawar.
“After realising that it has not succeeded in reducing the economic importance of Mumbai, the BJP has introduced this idea to develop Mumbai through NITI Aayog. It seems to be a conspiracy to reduce the rights of the BMC in a phased manner and make Mumbai a union territory. The ruling party may have forgotten the Samayukta Maharashtra movement but the Marathi maanoos hasn’t.”
According to Atul Londhe, the Congress’ chief spokesperson, the Modi government’s goal is to diminish the rights of the state government, as it did in Delhi, albeit in a different way, and finally remove Mumbai from Maharashtra. The Congress will oppose this,” he said. “We will never let it happen.”
