Power had gone to their head: CM Shinde on Thackerays for ignoring demands

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday took swipes at Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray for 'ignoring' the demands of fisherfolk affected by the Mumbai coastal road project when they were in power.

"Power had gone to head," Shinde said after attending a gathering of fisherfolk community in Aaditya's Assembly constituency, Worli, in south Mumbai.

One and a half years back, local fisherfolk had staged protests demanding that the span between two pillars of the coastal road be increased to allow their boats to pass, the CM said. Without naming then environment minster Aaditya or his father and then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, Shinde said whenever elections are round the corner, rumours are spread that Mumbai will made a Union Territory.

But as the chief minister of the state, we will not let anyone take away an inch of land of Mumbai and Maharashtra, Shinde said.

During the previous (Uddhav Thackeray-led) regime, demands of the fisherfolk were discarded like it happens in a dictatorship, and no hearing was given to them, he alleged.

The coastal road passes through Worli which houses Worli Koliwada, a fishing village.

You (fisherfolk) did not oppose the coastal road, but your demand was that the (gap between) two pillars should be extended. But at that timepower had gone to head and (the rulers) had no time to look into the small issues faced by the common man, Shinde said. After he took over the reins, it was decided to widen the gap to 120 metres, the chief minister added.

It is easy for two boats to pass through a gap of 60 metres, but when the sea is choppy no one can guess where the boat will go. We decided that the distance between two pillars should be 120 metres," he said.

Describing fisherfolk as the pillars of Mumbai, Shinde listed several welfare measures taken by his government for them.

He was also in the fishing business when he was young, he said.