30 October,2026 08:18 AM IST | Mumbai | Ranjeet Jadhav
Aaditya Thackeray, Sena (UBT) MLA. File Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray has flayed the state government over its move to introduce "floating hoardings" in the sea, calling the decision "highly irresponsible, possibly corrupt, and one that ruins the aesthetics of Mumbai."
The Maharashtra Maritime Board had invited tenders for floating advertisements on barges along prominent waterfronts in the city. In a letter to CM Devendra Fadnavis on October 28, Thackeray opposed the move, stating, "I write to you, to voice my clear objection to the defacement of the city by means of now adding âfloating hoardings' in the sea."
[popcorn number="Oct 28" desc="Day Aaditya Thackeray wrote to CM" class="Default"]
The letter further read, "Firstly, sir, due to the unabated pollution and no serious action against it, the sea cannot be seen by most of the city from even a little distance further from the coast.
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."
Stating that there should be a policy that keeps in check LED hoardings that hassle citizens at night, the letter read, "Aesthetics over cartels must be the norm, but sadly this decision chooses contractors over aesthetics. I urge you to intervene and stop this decision that is highly irresponsible, possibly corrupt, and surely one that ruins the aesthetics of Mumbai."
Shaunak Modi, marine ecologist and director of the Coastal Conservation Foundation and founder of Marine Life of Mumbai, said, "LED billboards could disrupt the entire coastal food web. Marine life along Mumbai's coast is already struggling with chronic light pollution from the land, and floating billboards will erase the few remaining pockets of shadow on the water.
The intense blue light from these billboards will suppress the nightly migration of plankton, turning baitfish into easy targets. Such bright lights will also mask the natural lunar cues that intertidal creatures need to spawn and feed. Add the constant underwater drone of barge power generators in habitats used by dolphins and porpoises, and you are actively stripping Mumbai's marine life of its last dark, quiet refuges."
Dr Prachi Hatkar, marine conservationist, Advanced Research Centre for Ecology & Conservation, DES Pune University, said, "Mumbai's coastline is a living ecosystem, not an advertising space. Illuminated floating hoardings could affect marine life and migratory birds through light pollution, underwater noise, vessel movement, and disturbance to feeding and resting habitats. A site-specific ecological assessment must be conducted before these installations are permitted, particularly near sensitive habitats. Commercial interests must not come at the cost of Mumbai's coastal biodiversity'
