By IANS,
Mumbai : Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has earned laurels from Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray for making a proposal aimed at cutting down the flow of migrants to the national capital from neighbouring states.
In an editorial in Monday’s ‘Saamna’, the party newspaper, its editor Thackeray has described Dikshit as the “only man” in the Congress for her bold views on thorny issues and her administrative acumen.
An example was Dikshit’s straightforward view on how the migrants from the neighbouring states – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, etc – have added to the population in Delhi and added to its woes – something similar to what is happening in Mumbai, the editorial noted.
Dikshit, on Saturday had said she wanted a common economic and taxation zone, comprising Delhi and the satellite towns, to cut down the flow of migrants to the city.
Thackeray said that people from the neighbouring states have created a headache for the Delhi state administration where the population has grown from 1.4 million in 1947 to 16 million now.
“Despite this massive growth in population, the size of Delhi has remained the same while the neighbouring states are not willing to concede even an inch of space,” he pointed out.
The editorial added that when the Shiv Sena was founded 45 years ago on similar principles, of safeguarding and saving Mumbai from the migrant problems, everyone opposed it.
He said that because of the heavy influx into the island city, even festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi and Navratri are being celebrated on the roads since all government lands are usurped by illegal hutments.
“The principle here seems to be: ‘Go and Come, It’s Your Home,’ and the Congress keeps on regularizing these illegal slums with new cut-off dates. But where are the basic amenities like water supply and collecting taxes from these slum dwellers,” he asked.
Referring to Dikshit’s observations that another 100-200 new townships would be required to accommodate the population of Delhi state, Thackeray said that even that has failed in Mumbai.
“Look at the condition of (neighbouring areas like) Thane and Navi Mumbai,” he said of these areas which were intended to be alternatives to decongest Mumbai.
“The population of Mumbai, which was barely 4 million in the 1960s, today stands at 13 million, but there is no corresponding increase in infrastructure, roads, water supply, health care facilities, etc,” the editorial said.
Complimenting Dikshit for raising concern about the plight of Delhi, Thackeray said: “Mumbai’s ‘vastraharan’ (disrobing) continues, who will save this city from sinking?”