29 October,2026 01:36 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray seeks CM`s intervention in floating advertisement row (File pic)
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray has sought Maharashtra Chief Minister (CM) Devendra Fadnavis's intervention against "floating hoardings" in Mumbai's sea. Aaditya Thackeray called the decision to permit them as highly irresponsible and warned that it would ruin the city's aesthetics.
While drafting a letter, a copy of which he shared on social media platform X on Thursday, Thackeray said that unabated pollution and the lack of serious action to curb it had made the sea barely visible from most parts of the city, even from a short distance inland.
He noted, "Sadly, with this absurd decision to support a cartel of hoarding contractors, whatever can be seen will be advertisements pasted in the faces of citizens who are already bearing the brunt of the rampant pollution on land."
The Mumbai Maritime Board has decided to allow floating advertisements on barges along prominent waterfronts in the city.
Criticising this move, Aaditya Thackeray said that there has to be a hoarding policy to regulate LED hoardings that inconvenience citizens at night and limit the number of hoardings across the city.
He also claimed that aesthetics over cartels must be the norm, but sadly this decision chooses contractors over aesthetics.
Urging the Maharashtra Chief Minister to intervene in the matter, the Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA from Worli in his letter also noted, "I urge you to intervene and stop this decision that is highly irresponsible, possibly corrupt, and surely one that ruins the aesthetics of Mumbai."
Earlier on October 24, Thackeray also wrote to CM Fadnavis, raising concerns over an artificial intelligence (AI) data centre proposed in a residential area of Thane and questioning the decision to locate the facility there.
In a post on social media, Thackeray said that the project had been imposed on Thane residents and alleged that several concerns raised by citizens remained unanswered despite protests against the facility.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader further said that a committee had been constituted by the state government following a protest in which he participated. However, he questioned its composition, claiming that almost all its members, apart from its head, were ex-officio members of the administration.
