A day after Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde took stock of the nullah cleaning work in Thane, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Sanjay Kelkar and Niranjan Davkhare on Wednesday evening visited Majiwada Gaon and Majiwada Rustomjee Astraea & Rustomjee Athena areas where the nullah cleaning work has not been completed with monsoon just round the corner.
The residents of Rustomjee had complained to BJP's Majiwada local leader Sachin Shingare who later called MLA Kelkar and MLC Davkhare. Both the leaders expressed disappointment with the mess in Majiwada nullah. "After receiving information about the nullah near Rustomjee getting clogged due to debris and garbage, I had called the Thane Municipal Commission to highlight the issue but nothing happened. Therefore, we had to invite MLA Sanjay Kelkar and MLC Niranjan Davkhare to show the condition of the nullah," Shingare said.
Kelkar said, "We had come to check the condition of the nullah, however, we were unable to see the nullah because it looks like a dumping ground. It seems that TMC has not cleaned it for many days. Everyone is aware of the corruption between TMC and contractors in nullah cleaning work. Taxpayers' money is being used but the actual work is invisible."
Panic among residents
The Majiwada Nullah is an important link since it starts from the Upvan area side and ends at Thane Creek on the Majiwada side. Multiple residential buildings line the nullah on both the sides in Majiwada. The nullah was choked from the Lodha Paradise side in Majiwada raising a scare of flooding during monsoon.
"As monsoon is just round the corner, our work is to highlight the issues of common people and our team is doing that very nicely, the condition of the nullah is clogged with vegetation growing in it," said Davkhare.
Abhishek Rana, a resident of Rustomjee Astraea said, "The nullah has been clogged up for months. With TMC not paying heed to our complaints, we first went to our local corporator who said that it is not their work. We then reached out to Sachin Shingare and we appreciate that BJP senior leaders from Thane like Kelkar and Davkhare have personally visited to check the nullah cleaning work and also raised the issues with TMC officials."
The visit from BJP Leaders has increased speculation about an internal rift between Shinde's Shiv Sena and the BJP party.
