Row over Kanjurmarg plot to further delay Mumbai’s Metro-3 underground corridor

The tussle between Centre and state government over the Kanjurmarg plot earmarked for the car shed of Metro-3 (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) corridor is expected to further

The tussle between Centre and state government over the Kanjurmarg plot earmarked for the car shed of Metro-3 (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) corridor is expected to further delay work on Mumbai’s only underground line. The ambitious 33.5-km corridor has already been delayed, with a cost escalation of around ₹10,000 crore.

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The Centre has challenged a 2018 order of the state revenue ministry declaring more than 40 saltpan lands as state- and privately-owned. This includes 1,464 acres of land in Kanjurmarg, of which 102 acres was handed over to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) in October for a common depot for Metro-3 and Metro-6 (Swami Samarth Nagar-Vikhroli).

While the petition filed by deputy salt commissioner on September 22 is pending for hearing before the Bombay high court, state authorities are continuing with preliminary work on the plot.

“The work will not be stopped unless there is a stay by the court. However, this does bring in certain uncertainty to the project,” said a state official, on condition of anonymity.

Metro authorities have multiple times said that operations on the corridor cannot start without a car shed, which will take at least two years to construct. The project has already been stuck for a year, after the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government ordered a stay on constructing of the depot at Aarey Colony in November 2019. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray announced the state’s decision to shift the car shed in October this year.

Paresh Rawal, a transport expert from Mumbai, said, “Now, it’s just getting murkier by the day and further pushing the deadline for the Metro, a transport system that Mumbai needed long ago, to meet its growing demands.”

The delays are also going to result in further cost escalation. According to the state-appointed Manoj Saunik committee report, a day’s delay amounts to ₹5.87 crore loss to the exchequer. The project, which was estimated to cost ₹23,000 crore, has already witnessed an escalation to ₹32,000 crore.

Meanwhile, environmentalists on Wednesday claimed that the Kanjurmarg depot plot does not fall under the land being claimed by the Centre.

Zoru Bhathena, environment activist from the Save Aarey group, said, “The area allotted for Kanjurmarg depot falls under plot 657A, which is part of larger survey no 275 of the Kanjurmarg land. The 657A belongs to Maharashtra government, which the Central government has not claimed. It has claimed remaining part of it. This is a ploy to just create confusion.”