Metro car shed: Kanjurmarg land a state property, says govt

The Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra has stated that the land in Kanjurmarg earmarked for a metro car shed belongs to the state. This comes after a dispute over ownership with the Central government. The state government has confirmed that the land belongs to them and has informed the Central government officials. The land was originally suggested for the car shed by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, but no action was taken. The state government has also stated that there is no question of alternate land as the Kanjurmarg land already belongs to them.

Mumbai: The Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government said that the Kanjurmarg land that was earmarked for metro car shed during the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is state’s property.

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Earlier, a row erupted over the ownership of the land parcel after the salt commissioner of the Central government had staked claim on it in November 2020.

The state government through a written reply in the legislative council on Friday said that the land belongs to it and the state officials have pointed this out to the Central government officials.

During the MVA government, then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray suggested shifting of Metro car shed from Aarey to Kanjurmarg and also met prime minister Narendra Modi over the same. However, nothing happened.

On Friday, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC Anil Parab raised a question about the Kanjurmarg car shed in council.

In the written reply to this, revenue minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said, “As per the order of Konkan Divisional Commissioner dated May 21, 2015, and the order of then revenue minister on November 1, 2018, it is finalised that the land at Kanjurmarg belongs to the Maharashtra government. As the state government is the landowner, the transfer of said land to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is valid and collector of Mumbai (suburban) has conveyed this to the deputy salt commissioner.”

On a question about alternate land for car shed, the minister said that there is no question of alternate land as the Kanjurmarg land already belongs to the state government.

The state government also informed the upper house that as per the request of the MMRDA, Mumbai suburban collector issued an order on April 17 this year to hand over the possession of the 15-hectare land in Kanjurmarg for the car shed of Metro-2. “After MMRDA got possession of the land on April 19, the deputy salt commissioner of the Central government took objection to the land survey. But the Mumbai suburban collector informed the deputy salt commissioner that land belongs to the state government,” stated the revenue minister’s reply.