Key Metro-3 ramp ready to connect car shed in Aarey

Work on a connecting ramp at Aarey’s Prajapurpada village has continued in full swing over the past year and a half.

Even though the Uddhav Thackeray-led government pledged to move the Metro-3 car shed out of Aarey Colony soon after coming to power in November 2019, work on a connecting ramp at Aarey’s Prajapurpada village has continued in full swing over the past year and a half.

A bird's eye view of Mumbai Metro-3 car shed at Aarey Colony, Goregaon (Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

Environmentalists have expressed dismay at this development.

The ramp is a key piece of Metro-3’s infrastructure, and will allow trains exiting the underground SEEPZ metro station to enter the car shed for maintenance.

Just two days after the Eknath Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party government vacated the previous regime’s stay on construction of the depot in Aarey, locals are seeing a flurry of activity at the ramp site.

“The ramp itself was completed a few months ago and things were quiet after that, but now there is some activity there again. It’s only a matter of time before they start work on connecting the ramp to the depot site, which is a lush green area with lots of trees,” Tabrez Sayed, an Aarey resident, said.

When contacted, Sanjay Karhade, spokesperson for MMRCL (Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited), said they would share updates at a press conference next week.

However, a senior official in MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) - which is a 50:50 partner in MMRCL along with the Central government - told Hindustan Times that the Metro-3 ramp work is “essentially complete”.

“There was never any stay on MMRCL constructing the ramp in Aarey. Only the depot plot was protected. Now that the government has expressed its clear intention to have the car shed in Aarey, a lot of time will be saved and the work required for the ramp to enter the car shed can be done very quickly,” the official, who did not wish to be named, said.

Environmentalists, however, said they are not at all surprised. “In March 2021, the state government ordered MMRDA and MMRCL to take steps to connect the ramp with Metro-6 line on Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road, which would have essentially made it unfeasible to construct the car shed on the contested plot. But this order was simply ignored by MMRCL which continued to build the ramp. They have kept this infrastructure ready in anticipation of the government toppling,” Zoru Bhatena said.

Subsequently, in September 2021, MMRCL responded to complaints by Save Aarey activist Amrita Bhattacharjee, who raised an alarm over the ongoing ramp construction. “It is to inform that [the Maharashtra government] has accorded approval to the recommendations of the committee for shifting the car depot of Metro-3 project from Aarey Colony to Kanjurmarg. Accordingly, the work is in progress at the Aarey Colony site.”

“As we are now seeing, this was a complete lie. The work to connect Metro-3 ramp to Metro-6 line, and to take the trains toward Kanjurmarg never took off,” Bhattacharjee said.