Maharashtra govt may reverse MVA decision to set up aquarium at Worli Dairy plot in South Mumbai

The Maharashtra government is likely to scrap the decision taken by the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to set up an aquarium on the plot belonging to Worli Dairy overlooking the erstwhile sea face in Worli. The state government had changed the land use of the plot in 2019 after its decision to build an aquarium there.

The government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has now decided to form a special committee to check the feasibility of use of land in the Worli dairy plot, a senior civic official told The Indian Express Friday. In 2019, the use of land was changed from dairy purposes to that of the proposed aquarium project. A senior civic official said, “A committee has been set up by the government to study the use of this land in the future.”

The committee will be set up under the chairmanship of Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis with members such as Dairy Development Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and Tourism Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha.

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Reacting to the development, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray tweeted on Thursday, “I’m told that a committee has been formed consisting of a few ministers to change the use of Worli Dairy from aquarium, open space & urban forest, as proposed by us, to “other purposes”. This illegal Govt will probably auction it to commercial or builder interests.”

He further said, “The unconstitutional govt must come clean on this. It cannot sell Mumbai for its selfish interests. We need open spaces and tourist places.”