Ruckus in House over delay in defence land slum redevpt | Mumbai News

Mumbai: The assembly was briefly adjourned on Tuesday after a ruckus broke out over delayed redevelopment of around 10,000 slums on defence land in Bandra East.Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Varun Sardesai, who raised a calling attention motion, said the issue has been pending since 2017 and pointed out delays in getting an NOC from the defence ministry as well as in transferring the land to the state govt. Seeking a time-bound solution, he said the state govt was only giving bureaucratic replies, with officials merely sending letters to the Centre but nothing moving on the ground.Irked, Shiv Sena minister Shambhuraje Desai said the issue was not taken up with the central govt from 2019-22—during the MVA govt’s term—and that former chief minister Eknath Shinde had raised the matter in Sept 2024. Shiv Sena (UBT) MLAs took objection to this charge and began raising slogans.Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray pointed out that a meeting on the issue was held in Feb 2022 by the chief secretary during MVA’s tenure. Warning him of moving a breach of privilege motion, he said Desai must not mislead the assembly. In response, the minister acknowledged that some meetings may have been held, but added that the then CM [Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray] didn’t conduct any meeting over the issue or follow up with the Centre.BJP MLAs Ram Kadam and Atul Bhatkhalkar joined in, putting the blame squarely at their party-led central govt’s doors for the delay in this slum’s redevelopment as well as for other stalled projects in Mumbai.Aaditya said MLAs across party lines were willing to set politics aside and take the matter up with the chief minister so that he can raise it with the Centre and resolve the long-pending issue of slum redevelopment on central govt plots in Mumbai.Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Bhaskar Jadhav objected to other Shiv Sena ministers responding on Shinde’s behalf. Speaker Rahul Narwekar ruled that deputy CM Shinde had already assigned ministers for replying to questions related to his departments.Desai said the state govt will prioritise taking up the issue with the Centre and will also raise it with MPs from the state before the next parliamentary session so that they can raise it in the House.Sloganeering, however, continued in the assembly, forcing panel speaker Sameer Kunawar to adjourn the proceedings for 10 minutes.