Aaditya Thackeray's vision for Mumbai's future: Transportation, healthcare, and housing solutions

Aaditya Thackeray, Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate at his residence, on Friday. Pic/Rane Ashish

While politicians increasingly speak about growing vehicular indiscipline and unregulated traffic, former guardian minister for Mumbai suburbs and Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray in a candid interview said, among other things, that if re-elected, he would improve BEST services, station at least one police officer on every street in his constituency to increase awareness of traffic rules and reduce congestion.

The Thackeray scion laid out his plans to make the city more liveable - from implementing an integrated traffic management plan to revamping the housing situation to boosting healthcare to increasing the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) fleet to improving pedestrian connectivity to saving open spaces and the environment - in a freewheeling interview with mid-day. Excerpts.

Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray at his residence, Matoshree, on Friday. Pics/Rane Ashish

You are contesting from Worli for the second time, this time in a triangular fight. Two-time MP and Rajya Sabha MP Milind Deora is contesting against you. An MNS candidate, too, is in the fray. How do you view this fight?
It's not just a triangular fight. It would be unfair for us to not count the other candidates, too. There are many more candidates apart from us. I think equal respect and weightage have to be given to everyone. At the end of the day, we're all only candidates who are looking to serve people and win their votes. My only issue is if someone is dedicated to contesting, they should step away from any cushioning like a Rajya Sabha seat. Resign from the Rajya Sabha seat and then enter the fray. If you have cushioning, then it seems like you're here just to pass the time.

People in the Mahayuti parties are saying Aaditya Thackeray was not active in his constituency...
If that was the case, they wouldn't have had to send in so many people and have so many rallies. Let them say whatever; people know what I've done there for the past five years when we were in government. When we were out of government, projects like BDD, which were stuck for 25 years were delivered by us. So many slum rehabilitation schemes that were stuck for 17-18 years have now taken off. Multiple chawls that want to go for self-redevelopment or redevelopment are being actively assisted by us. The Eknath Shinde government wants to convert the Worli Koliwada into a cluster or a slum, which we will prevent. I think everyone knows the work we've been doing. Even in high-rise buildings, everyone is in direct touch with us. So, we are within the people and amongst the people, no matter what the opposition says.

Aaditya Thackeray, Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate

As the MLA from that constituency, what were the key issues you will help solve once you get elected?
See I went into the constituency where we already had a Sena MLA, we now also have a Sena MP and corporators. I went in because it is also a microcosm of India. It is the idea of India. Every religion, every caste, every creed, every person from all across the country whoever comes with a dream, a hope for himself or herself wanting a job, wanting to start a business comes and settles largely in that area, especially Worli. See the kind of work we have done here in the past five years - be it with the footpaths, open spaces, coordination we've had amongst every type of housing, you know, be it a slum, be it a Koliwada, be it a chawl, be it a high-rise society. It is a rapidly evolving constituency and looking forward, I have more in store.

What are the two issues you were successfully able to solve for Worli in the last five years and what are the two you couldn't?
The two issues are pedestrian connectivity across Worli and minor spaces that were left out or in the dark that were not illuminated. We saw spaces that had become dump yards. We tried to convert those into active public spaces. Housing has been a major, major issue for us. As I said, a lot of our housing is at least 100 years old. In terms of the older buildings, they are undergoing revamp so that is where we are actively assisting them. Then BDD chawl is a huge project backed by our government, initiated 25 years ago and going back and forth. But, it was started in our term and now you'll see one tower which is almost ready and the handover will be done in the next two, three months. A lot of stuck SRA [Slum Rehabilitation Authority] projects have started off. In terms of going forward, we want two things: one is an integrated traffic management plan and this is something we couldn't really finish because the Worli-Sewri connector, which should have been finished by this government is only 57 per cent complete. When our government was toppled it was 48 per cent complete. Two, when we're looking at traffic management plans; you need to take the local shopkeepers, house owner, and stakeholders into confidence because they cannot be disrupted because of such management plans. I would definitely like to have active traffic management personnel/traffic police on all roads across Mumbai. Today, the fear of traffic police has eroded. The second thing we are actively working on is housing. We are also looking at actively creating a medical concierge for senior citizens where a GP [general practitioner] will be connected to every household and will be available via WhatsApp.

Aaditya Thackeray

Will this be unique to Worli or do you plan to expand it?
This is for all of Mumbai, of course. Look at the healthcare services today in Maharashtra, the way they have crumbled, look at our medical colleges run by BMC or the government. Today doctors, resident doctors and nurses are giving their all. Still, they're not being supported by the government. How did our medical infra crumble so fast? Only because of an incapable CM like Eknath Shinde.

There are so many infrastructure projects coming up in Mumbai. What is your vision for Mumbai?
Simple. Speak to Mumbai about Mumbai. Because primarily today if you see all the ALMs and citizen groups who is hearing their voice? Nobody. Who are hearing the urban planners and architects from the city or Pune, Nashik, Thane, Nagpur, Solar, Kolapur? Nobody. The government is just bringing its favourite contractors and implementing a contract. Left, right centre. They are taking money out of it with advanced funds but not really finishing any projects.

Look at BEST, which is the backbone of Mumbai's economic progress. When we were in power, we were looking increasing the fleet to 10,000 electric buses by 2027 without changing the fare structure. What has Eknath Shinde's government done? Last year, it increased fares and now BEST buses have reduced from 3,500 to 2,500. Even though the ridership of BEST is 33 to 35 lakh - the undertaking moves an entire European country daily, it lacks adequate funds. The Delisle Road bridge is delayed because of a scam related to gravel.

This Eknath Shinde-BJP government only believes in changing contractors and, of course, cost escalation so they benefit, but nowhere do they look at how to help the people.

What we are looking at is apart from bigger projects, how do we go into the lanes and bylanes of any city, be it Mumbai, Pune, Thane, anywhere? You need walkability, pedestrian pathways and connectivity through gardens and open spaces. What about pet parks? What about safe schools? The Safe School project has been shut down by Eknath Shinde. Why? Its aim was to ensure the basic safety of boys and girls.

You mentioned open spaces and you are a big fan of football, but there are few grounds to play the sport.
We need to open up our open spaces. In our time we prevented mud playgrounds from being converted into artificial ones. We also prevented anyone from taking over open spaces. Yes, there will be rare instances where someone has encroached on a ground but we need to actively look at it. What I was also doing as a personal effort was break the walls of gardens and open spaces, maybe create grills. But you need to be able to see through that there is an open space. The reason why we feel there's a dearth of open spaces in a city today is because there are walls. You can't have an open space like a jail. You can't have an open space walled up.

We need to prevent further encroachment or construction on open spaces because you can't create another space. We had police patrolling back then, and watchmen from the BMC would protect these public spaces. We'll have to start actually enforcing, anti-encroachment drives in open spaces.

The Mumbai Climate Action Plan was one of your pet projects. Where are we now on it, according to you?
In this government, it's in the cold storage. I don't think the goals that were set by our [MVA] government were too ambitious. You can reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and that is possible for Mumbai. Many other cities like Pune, Solapur and Nashik are going for a climate action plan. Unfortunately, this government is not keen on environmental discussion at all. For example, before preaching to you to buy an EV car, the government has to move towards an EV transition. The BEST fleet or any other one has to move towards an electric vehicle transition and that is what we were doing. For the past two years, in almost every lane you will find that garbage dumps are not being cleaned for days because there is no answerability as there is no elected official/representative in the BMC.

If you come to power, what will you implement?
The first thing that we will do when we come to power is take all the cities due for local body elections and urban local bodies to the polls. Whichever political party wins, you have to have elections. The people must have a voice. So many municipal corporations are due for elections.

Are you in favour of a 24-hour Mumbai?
Mumbai is a city that never sleeps or stops. One is talking about having an International Financial Centre; many sectors and service industries work 24/7. Eateries, cafés, gyms, spas, theatres and shops should be open round the clock at least in non-residential areas.

What is one lesson from your late grandfather, Balasaheb Thackeray, that is helping you now in this climate of turbulence?
Balasaheb was crystal clear in his thoughts. He always used to say if one believes what he is doing is right and doing it for the people, there is nothing to fear. Just do it. Another thing I learned is to keep evolving and voicing people's issues. His ideology was actually very pragmatic.

Your party is fielding a candidate in Mahim against your cousin Amit Thackeray of MNS…
This is not a family battle. In terms of courtesy being extended, for the past 20 years, none of our family members has commented on others. This, despite the other side speaking negatively about us in the public domain - right from the 2014 election where the food served to my grandfather was mentioned in a public address. We have not been brought up to speak so crassly. This is the basic and biggest courtesy that we have offered.

Do you think if it had been BJP leaders like Nitin Gadkari, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance would have never come to an end?
The pre- and post-2014 BJP are different parties. The BJP has changed completely after 2014. Can anyone tell me who are the top five faces of the Maharashtra BJP? Where are BJP leaders like Vinod Tawde, Prakash Mehta, Gopal Shetty, Poonam Tai [Mahajan] and Pankaja Tai [Munde]? Original BJP karykartas are nowhere; it is those who have come from outside who have gained importance.

Every party is in a hurry to announce sops, including MNS, which has announced more perks than the Mahayuti. Where will the money come from?
A BJP leader told me that the current government had budgeted schemes for three months and has no backup plan. The current government plans to discontinue many sops as they have no backup plan to continue funding these schemes. But, the MVA has a plan that is sustainable for the next five years.

Why oppose Adani and big infra projects?
We are here to serve people and not work for the interests of Adani or contractors or BJP's builders.

Are you mentoring your younger brother Tejas who is travelling with Uddhav Thackeray for election rallies and campaigns?
Not at all. In fact, I try to learn from him about how to find out if anyone is venomous or not.

What is the message that you want to give to Sena (UBT) workers and voters?
This is not a message for anyone in particular. But, the way Maharashtra is being looted to favour Gujarat, it is a battle for the pride of Maharashtra.

89,248
Votes garnered by Aaditya Thackeray in 2019

‘Metro 3 has so far ferried as many passengers as 23 BEST buses do in a month'

The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation on Thursday posted on X, "Aqua Line 1st month: 6,33,209 passengers. Mumbaikars chose #MetroLine3 for daily commute, reduced traffic congestion & positively contributed to the environment."

Responding to this, Mumbai-based activist Zoru Bhathena tweeted, "One single BEST Bus transports about 900 people every single day. 23 BEST buses transport about 6.4 lakh passengers every single month. Mumbai Metro 3 Phase1 transported about 6.33 lakh passengers in its first month. Metro 3 Phase 1 Month 1 carried as many people as 23 BEST buses did."

Referencing the tweet, Thackeray said, "If you go by global standards, the best public transport is in London. They have rail, underground metro, buses, cabs and Ola and Uber. If you go by the ratio of the population that's going to increase in Mumbai, we will need to increase the BEST fleet to 10,000 electric buses. Only then will public transport be used by people of all socioeconomic strata because it will be more comfortable and affordable; 900 electric buses give us the possibility to actually increase our capacity whenever we want to."