Maharashtra polls: Thackeray promises international finance centre for Dharavi in manifesto | Mumbai news

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray unveiled his party’s election manifesto on Thursday, promising to establish a new International Finance Centre in Dharavi to boost youth employment. The manifesto, known as Vachan Nama, also pledges to reinstate the Old Pension Scheme for government employees.

The announcement was made at Thackeray’s residence, Matoshree, in the presence of party leaders Subhash Desai and Anil Parab. Thackeray indicated that a joint manifesto from the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition would be released by the weekend.

“We will scrap the Dharavi redevelopment project given to Adani. Employment is the most important issue for youth due to rising unemployment. So to generate employment opportunity once we come to power, we will build an International Finance Centre at Dharavi,” Thackeray said.

The manifesto promises to revoke the government order on cluster development in Mumbai’s fishing villages (Koliwada), ensuring redevelopment aligns with the fishermen community’s needs and demands.

Thackeray reinforced his previously announced five guarantees, which are now incorporated into the manifesto. These include free education for male students, affordable housing for the Marathi community in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, dedicated women’s police stations, guaranteed crop prices for farmers, and price stability for five essential commodities: sugar, pulses, oil, wheat and rice.