VIDEO: Aaditya Thackeray Discusses Pune’s Problems & Their Root Causes

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, in a recent interview, spoke at length about the challenges facing Pune and the underlying reasons behind them.

“The problem that Pune faces is the haphazard planning of the Metro lines. They’ve started flooding the city left, right and centre within the first 15 minutes of rain,” Thackeray said.

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“The riverfront development project is probably the only project in the world where the river is being narrowed and shallowed. Any common-sense project around the world for a river widens and deepens it. This is going the other way, and this is going to take down Pune in a very devastating way. It’s already started. It’s going against all the EC permissions,” the Worli MLA added.

Earlier this year, too, he had slammed the government over the riverfront development project, calling it the reason behind the flash floods in the city.

Taking to Twitter (formerly known as Twitter), Thackeray wrote, “Despite this unanimous demand to stop the riverfront destruction planned by the govt, the govt is pushing forward.”

After the floods during the monsoon in Pune, Thackeray had stated that the flash floods were caused by the unplanned destruction of the city due to the regime–builder nexus. He had also criticised the riverfront development project, describing it as an attempt to replicate the Sabarmati riverfront model by an architect from Gujarat, without considering the unique flow of Pune’s rivers.

This came after over 5,000 citizens from Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad participated in the Chipko Padyatra organised by Pune River Revival, demonstrating unprecedented public support for protecting riverside ecosystems.