Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today inaugurated the state-of-the-art toilet facility in the city.
The inaugural function held at the city Police Headquarters in South Mumbai was attended by high ranked police officials and Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon.
Addressing the gathering Fadnavis said, "The Prime Minister launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and as part of that initiative we started Swachh Maharashtra drive. Today, it gives me immense happiness that fives cities from Maharashtra are on the list of cleanest cities declared by the Centre."
The facility is an initiative of Adar Poonawalla Clean City Movement, which was launched earlier this year in Pune under which toilets will be constructed at various places in the state.
He also appreciated the effort made by Adar Poonawalla Clean City Movement towards addressing the issue of waste management in the state.
"We need more private participation to come forward and join hands in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to make India 'garbage free'. Government is trying to make the country open defecation free and for that proper sanitation facilities are required at a larger scale. These modern toilets are an example of addressing the sanitation issues nationwide," he said.
Dismissing the suggestion that the morcha launched by
the Maratha community is directed towards his government, Fadnavis said their anger springs from the "historical injustice" suffered by them under successive regimes, which made nearly 80 per cent people remain in agony.
"One segment of the Maratha community comprises 20-25 per cent people who have been ruling the state, have been ministers, MLAs, have been controlling the cooperative sector, controlling private educational institutions and are absolutely wealthy and well to do. Then there is 75-80 per cent people who have been left out," he said.
"This is the agony of these left outs and it is not just against governments but against these 20-25 per cent people as well. Established leadership was not allowed to take centre stage (in the protests)," he said.
"Among the established leadership, there are people who have been trying to target me using this platform but fortunately the organizers of these protests have not allowed them till date to do this. These people are also trying to put in front some proxy organizations since they are not allowed to direct this anger against the government. But I am sure they will not be allowed to do that as well," Fadnavis said.
On the controversy surrounding the release of 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil', the Chief Minister said that in hindsight, the issue could have been handled in a better way, but at that time, he did what he felt was right.
"If Raj (MNS chief Raj Thackeray) wouldn't have created that controversy, things were settled. In that case, everybody would have said the CM did a wonderful job. Without any problem the issue got solved.
"Since Raj asked for Rs five crore, it was over hyped by national media. I think today one can say the issue could have been handled in a better way due to the controversy it generated. I did what I felt right at that time," Fadnavis said.
On the demand for a separate Vidarbha state, an issue over which not only the Congress-NCP opposition but also Shiv Sena had often targeted him since he hailed from the region and also as his party's preference for smaller states, Fadnavis said his government's agenda is to ensure balanced development of Maharashtra.
"The statehood issue is a matter in the domain of the Centre. I have made it amply clear whenever the issue was raised. For me, what is important is balanced development of entire Maharashtra, including Vidarbha and Marathwada," he said.
