Mumbai Pollution: As CM Shinde directs BMC to install air purifier towers, Aaditya Thackeray says, 'Absolute waste of public money'

Former environment minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Friday hit out at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for directing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to install air purifier towers in the city to deal with rising pollution levels.

Aaditya Thackeray, taking to Twitter, said he read about CM Shinde's orders in newspapers about the air purifier towers, while terming it "absolute waste of public money".

𝗔𝗶𝗿 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻 "𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗵", 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲: 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘆

"I read in the newspapers that the illegal CM’s response to pollution is an order to @mybmc to put up “air purifier towers”. As a fmr environment minister who worked on pollution mitigation, I can vouch that these towers are an absolute a waste of public money, at large," Aaditya Thackeray wrote.

"What govt must focus on, rather than air purifier towers, is to actually identify sources of pollution and to organise them better, stagger their work and ensure they follow pollution control rules.

This Govt is supported by these vested interests, therefore no guts to stop them," he said.

"These towers are simply an eyewash and a superficial response to a problem that cannot be solved superficially. The @mybmc has already a climate action plan made in our tenure, shelved now, which identifies these problem spots and has solutions for it," Thackeray went on to add.

𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗠𝗖 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal (Administrator) to prioritise pollution control, strengthening of the health system, administration transparency, and city's beautification while making the municipal corporation's budget.

Shinde's direction came as BMC is to present the budget of the richest corporation in the country tomorrow. Committed to providing clean air to the city, the CM said, "to control pollution and air quality in Mumbai, air purifier towers should be installed in the city like they are installed in Delhi, Gurgaon, and Lucknow."

At the same time, Shinde said that measures will be taken to increase urban forestry.

(With inputs from ANI)