Metro car shed: HC agrees to examine if 33 hectares of Aarey land in Mumbai can be saved

The division bench of chief justice Manjula Chellur and justice Mahesh Sonak agreed to look into the ownership dispute over part of the 41-hectare saltpan land at Kanjurmarg

The Bombay high court on Monday agreed to examine if 33 hectares of green forest cover at Aarey Colony can be saved by shifting the location of the proposed car shed for Metro 3 (Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ) from here to saltpan land at Kanjurmarg, part of which is presently embroiled in an ownership dispute.

About 2,300 trees are likely to be cut for the Metro Line-3 car shed at Aarey Colony — admittedly the last green cover remaining near the city.

The division bench of chief justice Manjula Chellur and justice Mahesh Sonak agreed to look into the ownership dispute over part of the 41-hectare saltpan land at Kanjurmarg. This land had been considered previously to build the car shed and the state had even agreed to handover the plot. The plan, however, had to be dropped after it came to light that the high court had ordered a status quo on this land.

The high court on Monday issued notices to all the parties involved in the ownership dispute and said the best way to attempt to save the Aarey land would be to resolve the Kanjurmarg issue.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Asmita Bhattacharjee, challenging the validity of an August 24, 2017, notification issued by the Urban Development Department (UDD), which changed the use of the 33-hectare land at Aarey Colony from green cover to metro car shed.

About 2,300 trees are likely to be cut for the Metro Line-3 car shed at Aarey Colony — admittedly the last green cover remaining near the city.

Meanwhile, the BMC on Monday agreed to conduct a fire audit of Cuffe Parade and inform the court whether or not fire brigade can undertake a fire-fighting operation in the area. The assurance came after advocate Robin Jaisinghani complained that because of the ongoing Metro 3 work, it was impossible to conduct any fire fighting operation in the area. The 50-year-old resident of Dalamal Tower in Cuffe Parade urged the court to direct the fire brigade to conduct the audit and submit its report to the court.