Maharashtra Minister of Higher & Technical Education Chandrakant Patil on Sunday inaugurated the reconstructed steps to Mhatoba Mandir in Kothrud.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Patil wrote, "The temple of Kothrud's village deity Shri Mhatoba is on ARAI Hill, and the steps leading to the temple were in a very bad condition. There was a constant demand from the villagers that these steps should be reconstructed. Responding to this demand, the steps have been reconstructed; stone steps have been built. Due to this, the splendour of the temple premises has also increased. Also, the devotees who go for darshan have got great relief."
Patil added that an integrated plan would be prepared for the development of this area in the future. He assured that funds would be made available for this from the MLA fund.
Recently, Patil had expressed anger after learning that some miscreants had set fire to trees on Mhatoba Hill. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader then directed the forest department to take measures to ensure such incidents do not occur in the future.
Highlighting the damage caused by the fires, Patil stated, "Around 6,500 trees were planted on Mhatoba Hill. However, the fire incident destroyed nearly 2,500 trees. The administration needs to take strict measures to prevent such incidents in the future."
Patil also suggested initiatives such as removing weeds to promote healthy tree growth, constructing protective walls where required, installing solar-powered CCTV cameras at key locations to monitor activities on the hills, and increasing the number of security personnel.
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