MNS supports regularisation of slums till 2000

Mumbai, Jan 27: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray today declared that he supported the extension of the cut-off date of regularisation of slums here from 1995 till 2000.

Addressing a press conference after releasing his party's manifesto for the prestigious Mumbai corporation polls scheduled for February 1, he said the extension of the cut-off date was a necessity and demanded that all political parties reach a consensus about not politicising the slum proliferation issue.

He said the Constitution says that every citizen can live and work in any part of the country.

''The Constitution does not say that people can live anywhere and anyhow,'' he said and added that if voted to power in the BMC, his party would undertake a special drive to provide sanitation and cleanliness in the slum areas and construct more public toilets.

Mr Thackeray also promised no hike in taxes for the next ten years and move towards capital value system without increasing the tax burden.

He also promised a transparent administration saying that the details of the income and expenditure of the corporation would be made public every six months and undertake extensive computerisation of the civic body.

Referring to the agitation in municipal schools he promised to adopt ten schools for a complete revamp. Similarly, he said more amenities would be provided in the civic schools and special training imparted to enchance the student's sporting skills.

Stating that there will be no repeat of the July 26, 2005 deluge in Mumbai, Mr Thackeray has promised a blue-print to prepare the BMC for facing the challenges for the next 50 years.

Replying to a question as to why he was the last to release his manifesto, he said that he had to travel outside Mumbai to campaign for his candidates in nine other municipal corporations which will go to polls on the same day.

Ridiculing the manifesto of the saffron alliance which speaks about providing free crematorium facilities for Mumbaikars, Mr Thackeray sarcastically said his efforts would be to ensure that less number of people would have to go to the crematorium.

UNI