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After Metro-3 car shed, citizens seek CM support for Metro-2B
After Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray stayed the construction of the Metro-3 (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) car shed in Aarey Colony, citizens have sought his
After Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray stayed the construction of the Metro-3 (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) car shed in Aarey Colony, citizens have sought his intervention in the Metro-2B (DN Nagar-Mandale) project.
Demanding that the project be made underground, as it could lead to traffic congestion on the arterial SV Road, citizens from Bandra, Khar and Juhu have staged several protests against the elevated corridor being implemented by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The Juhu Vile Parle Development Association (JVPD) and the H/West Citizens Trust on Monday wrote to the chief minister and Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray seeking a meeting.
The letter by JVPD, which includes 720 residential plots, read, “MMRDA had already approved a well-reasoned report in 2013/14 for a complete underground line 2 between Dahisar and Mankhurd. However, for reasons best known to the last regime under CM Fadnavis, it was reversed into elevated mode in 2015 and hastily split the line into Metro lines 2A and 2B.”
The letter addressed by H/West citizens trust read: “The former CM (Devendra Fadnavis) refused to meet and hear us out. If the Aarey project can be stalled, why not Metro-2B?...We are not against development. We are asking for an underground Metro, which has unlimited scope for future expansion.”
Anandini Thakoor, from the H/West ward citizens’ trust, said, “The elevated line will clog the SV Road. The width of the road is already narrow.”
Thakoor had written to the Shiv Sena chief in December 2018 too.
Nitin Killawala, who had been spearheading the demand for underground Metros in the city, said, “Metro-2B is more of a real estate project than a transport one. We hope the new government hears us out.”
Thackeray stayed the work on Metro-3 car shed at Aarey, less than three hours after he took charge, keeping the Shiv Sena’s poll promise of saving Aarey Colony, one of the largest green lungs of Mumbai. The move was applauded by green activists across the city. Thackeray has also ordered a review of the ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, which is considered to be Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project.
