Arvind Sawant says Shrikant Shinde's meet with BMC administrator ‘an insult to people of south Mumbai’

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP from south Mumbai Arvind Sawant on Thursday criticised a recent meeting between Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s son and Kalyan MP, Shrikant Shinde, and high-ranking BMC officials.

Sawant said that Shinde, who had nothing to do with South Mumbai, had no business giving suggestions on further development of Fort and Marine Drive areas.

Shrikant Shinde met BMC administrator

Shinde recently met BMC administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal and other senior officials at the municipality’s headquarters to discuss the revamp of Marine Drive and Fort areas.

He also discussed various other upgrade works that have been proposed to promote the rich heritage of Mumbai.

A detailed presentation was given on the proposed plan for the conjectural restoration of Fort and Marine Drive through short-term and long-term measures. The plan focuses on improving open public spaces for walking, cycling and running at Marine Drive. Basic facilities like toilets, benches to sit on, and informative signage will also be addressed. A 1-km stretch at Fort near Flora Fountain and Marine Drive will be taken up as a pilot project.

Several other issues such as parking, hawking, heritage trail and historic mapping were discussed for remodelling the Fort area. Giving a special focus to create hawking zones as a pilot project between Asiatic Library and Flora Fountain was also discussed.

Arvind Sawant tweets

Sawant tweeted, “Oh sad to see the slavery of bureaucrats who discuss the issues of development of south Mumbai without the people’s representative of south Mumbai. None of the people in the meeting have any relation by any means to south Mumbai. MPs of Kalyan and South Central Mumbai, MLAs from Konkan area and some civilians are seen present for this meeting on the development project of south Mumbai. It’s nothing but an insult to the people of south Mumbai who have elected MLA’s, MP and even ex-councillors of Mumbai.”