Mumbai Metro car shed: Activists say political circus will affect environment, citizens

Following the Bombay high court’s (HC) stay on the transfer of land at Kanjurmarg to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for the construction of a Metro car shed, environment activists in the city said political slugfest over the matter was delaying the Metro project further.

Following the Bombay high court’s (HC) stay on the transfer of land at Kanjurmarg to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for the construction of a Metro car shed, environment activists in the city said political slugfest over the matter was delaying the Metro project further.

The Kanjurmarg land where the Metro car shed is proposed to be built. (HT PHOTO)

On Wednesday the Bombay HC after hearing a petition by the Central government passed an interim order staying the transfer of 102-acre land for the proposed car shed.

“The stay will delay the work on not just the Metro-3 connecting Colaba, Bandra and SEEPZ, but also on Metro-6 connecting Lokhandwala to Kanjurmarg,” said Stalin D, director of Vanashakti, a non-government organisation who petitioned to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), HC and the Supreme Court to move the Metro car shed out of Aarey Milk Colony.

Architect and activist Nitin Killawala said, “The intervention by the Central government and the high court is unfortunate. This 102-acre land was always the spot for a car shed for Metro line 6, so why has the question of ownership arisen only now?”

In October, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government announced the relocation of the controversial Metro-3 car shed out of Aarey Milk Colony to Kanjurmarg where the car shed for Metro-6 line was situated. The car shed was to be used for Metro lines 4 (Wadala-Kasarwadavali) and 14 (Kanjurmarg-Badlapur).

“Combining the metro yards and making a common car shed for two or three lines leads to optimisation of space. With this stay, work on all lines will suffer,” Killawala added.

Last year, the then government led by Devendra Fadnavis, faced severe criticism and protests from environmentalists over its move to construct the car shed at Aarey Milk Colony. The Shiv Sena had taken the matter up and promised to reverse the decision in its election manifesto.

“The matter is not restricted to Aarey anymore, but has turned into a political slugfest between the state and the Central government where environment is the casualty,” Stalin added.

“This is a needless intervention over ownership of the land when there are orders dating to 2018 stating that the land belongs to the state government. The delay in the project will affect the citizens,” said Zoru Bhathena, activist and one of the petitioners before SC.