CM Uddhav Thackeray pays homage to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Mumbai on Friday. PTIMaha CM suspends work on Aarey Metro car shed project

Shiv Kumar

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Tribune News Service

Mumbai, November 29

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who took over as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Thursday, has halted the felling of trees for the Metro car shed at Aarey on the suburbs of Mumbai.

“I have ordered to stop work on the Aarey Metro car shed project today while we undertake a review. However, work on the Metro line will not stop. But not a single leaf in Aarey will be cut while we decide on (the location of) the car shed,” Thackeray said.

The Shiv Sena chief said he was the first CM from Mumbai and he cared for the city’s environment.

He criticised the Fadnavis government’s decision to chop down more than 2,300 trees over a weekend while the state was in the midst of the election campaign. “The tree cutting at night should have been avoided. It is not acceptable to us,” Thackeray said.

The CM said he has inherited a challenging economic environment from his predecessor and he was still acquainting himself with the workings of government.

Thackeray, who formally took charge of his office today, held a meeting of top bureaucrats at Mantralaya, the state secretariat. “I told them that the government does not belong to Uddhav Thackeray, but to the people of Maharashtra, including themselves,” the CM said at his first official press conference.

Sporting a saffron kurta for the second day today, Thackeray said he would continue wearing the ‘bhagwa’ colour. “We will not allow it to be washed in any laundry,” he said. On a query on the Shiv Sena’s commitment to secularlism, Thackeray said, “Secularism is what is mentioned in the Constitution.”

Meanwhile, Thackeray is likely to face a vote of confidence on Saturday. Senior NCP leader Dilip Walse-Patil was today sworn in as the Pro Tem Speaker by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari ahead of the Saturday’s Assembly session. Walse-Patil’s name was recommended by the government.