Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde lifts stay on Metro car shed at Aarey

With the decision in place, chief minister Eknath Shinde said that they will start construction work at the earliest. Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis while defending the decision, alleged that the decision to shift the car shed to Kanjurmarg was taken by the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to satisfy his ego and not in the interest of Mumbai.

Mumbai The Eknath-Shinde led state government on Thursday removed the stay on construction of a Metro 3 car shed at Aarey Colony. The decision paved the way for construction of the Metro car shed at the green lung that was stopped on November 29, 2019 following a stay imposed by the previous MVA government.

A view of Metro Carshed site at Aarey Colony, Goregaon, in Mumbai (Pratik Chorge/HT PHOTO)

On Thursday, the state urban development department (UDD) issued a letter in this regard to Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) commissioner SVR Srinivas, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) managing director Ashwini Bhide. Soon after taking over, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had asked the urban development ministry to start the process for construction of the shed at Aarey milk colony.

“Metro Line 3 is a joint project of the central and state government. On March 3, the union housing and urban affairs ministry was directed to complete the Metro 3 car shed work at the earliest. Considering the recent reports filed by MMRCL and MMRDA, the state government has decided to lift the stay,” states the letter written by Vijay Chaudhary, deputy secretary, UDD.

With the decision in place, chief minister Eknath Shinde said that they will start construction work at the earliest. Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis while defending the decision, alleged that the decision to shift the car shed to Kanjurmarg was taken by the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to satisfy his ego and not in the interest of Mumbai.

“We have taken the decision considering environmental balance as 17 lakh commuters are expected to travel on this route,” the chief minister said. He added that the delay will increase cost escalation which may create issues with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) that has provided loans for the project and other projects as well.

Fadnavis said that the Uddhav Thackeray government also constituted a committee headed by senior bureaucrat Manoj Saunik, which too had said that the car shed should be built at Aarey as it will not be feasible at Kanjurmarg. It also said in its report that if shifted to Kanjurmarg, the car shed will not be completed in the next four years and will also result in a cost escalation of ₹20,000 crore. “It means the actual cost of the project is ₹22,000 crore and even after adding escalation cost of ₹20,000 crore, the car shed will not be completed in four years. Despite this, Uddhav ji decided to take the decision to shift the car shed to Kanjurmarg to satisfy his ego and not in the interest of the city,” the deputy chief minister said.

Following the demands made by environmentalists, the erstwhile MVA government had decided to shift the car shed to Kanjurmarg in November 2019. In October 2020, it also declared 328.9 hectares (ha) at Aarey Colony as reserved forest area. Ever since the Shinde-Fadnavis decided to reverse the decision, several environment activists have again started the protest at Aarey Colony.

Reacting to the protest by environmentalists against the decision of constructing a car shed at Aarey Colony, Fadnavis also said that they were the same set of people who went to the Bombay High Court, National Green Tribunal and Supreme Court but did not get any relief.

He also said that each day’s delay means reducing one day from the life of Mumbaiites. “If someone is still trying to stop the construction work (of the metro car shed at Aarey Colony) then it also raises the question of ill-intention,” he pointed out.

According to Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL), the excavation of nearly 50% of the land available for the depot has been completed. The depot will be built on 30 hectares of land of which 25 hectares will include station premises, depot, maintenance area, metro control centre, stabling yard and a train washing system for the metro train coaches.

With inputs from Aroosa Ahmed