BMC’s elected body rejects Mumbai Metro car shed proposal

Sena rejected the proposal with majority votes of 117. The BJP and Samajwadi Party voted in favour of the reservation for the car shed.

The elected body of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has rejected the proposal to reserve land in Aarey Colony for the construction of Metro 3 project by majority for the time being. In a discussion over the long pending Development Plan 2034 in the BMC, the ruling Shiv-Sena with support from Congress and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) rejected the proposal for construction of Metro car shed in Aarey Colony late on Monday night.

Out of the 266 amendments put forward by the leader of the house, Yashwant Jadhav (Shiv Sena), the construction of the metro car shed was the only bone of contention and was put to vote. Sena rejected the proposal with majority votes of 117. The BJP and Samajwadi Party voted in favour of the reservation for the car shed.

While the car shed may have been voted out of the DP, sources said that the plan should not be written off so easily. The Sena may have had an upper hand in the BMC, but the BJP-led state government will have a final say in the matter.

After the BMCs approval of the city’s DP, the plan will be sent to the state government, which has six months to review the plan. The DP had suggested the change in land-use rules to convert 33 hectares of Aarey Colony — a green lung and a no-development zone — to a metro car shed. “This vote is against the development work. The city needs better transport facilities like Metro. In the voting, the BMC rejected the proposal and instead, an alternative space should have been suggested,” said Rais Shaikh, group leader Samajwadi Party, who voted in favour of the car shed.

BMC on Monday passed the Development Plan (DP) 2014-34 at 12.45 am after a 10-hour discussion that began on Monday afternoon.