07 September,2009 03:06 PM IST | | PTI
A member of the Ashok Chavan-led Congress-NCP ministry in Maharashtra has flayed the state government's decision to regularise pre-2000 slums in Mumbai, saying the decision was taken to garner votes ahead of next month's Assembly elections.
"The decision to regularise pre-2000 slums was taken by the government to garner votes," minister for non-conventional energy resources Vinay Kore said, addressing a meeting here yesterday.
Kore heads the Jan Surajya Shakti (JSS) party which has four members in the Assembly and became a part of the government after 2004 Assembly polls.
Demanding curbs on migrants to Mumbai, Kore said the carrying capacity of the metropolis has been reached. "We will side with those who oppose the influx of migrants," Kore, who courted controversy during the Lok Sabha polls for supporting Raj Thackeray's MNS in Mumbai South, said.
A decision on the issue of supporting MNS in Assembly polls would be taken within a week, the minister said. Mumbai's population had reached the 1.40 crore mark, the city's carrying capacity, he said. It was the constitutional duty of the government to curb further influx, he added.
Criticising the state government's move to regularise slums that have come up till the year 2000, Kore said allowing more people to settle in Mumbai would create problems for those already residing here.
Claiming that the next government would not be formed without JSS support, Kore said a discussion with Raj Thackeray was likely soon. MNS had supported JSS candidates in Nanded and Latur in the Lok Sabha polls.
Kore, who represents Panhala constituency in Kolhapur district of western Maharashtra, said his party would field around 50 candidates for the Assembly polls, including around 10 from Mumbai. Mumbai and adjoining areas like Thane and Navi Mumbai have a substantial number of people from Kolhapur and Western Maharashtra, he said.
The state government was being cheated by mill owners and developers who were giving a share of mill land that was due to the government in suburbs like Goregaon and the Vasai-Virar belt instead of the mill district of central Mumbai, he said.
