BMC-MMRDA war over car sheds could hit Metro project

The Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) dealt a setback to the Metro project by holding back two proposals and returning one to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). HT Correspondent reports.

The Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) dealt a setback to the Metro project by holding back two proposals and returning one to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

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All related to car sheds.

The Civic Improvements Committee sent back the proposal for a shed at Mandale in Trombay, saying that the land marked for it was part of the Coastal regulatory Zone and close to a naval unit.

Hence, it required no-objection certificates from the Union Environment Ministry and the Navy.

Two other proposals — one each along the Charkop-Mankhurd link and Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor — were deferred.

The first was about a 375 sq mt plot at Versova on which the BMC has a sewage pumping station.

The land is required for rail lines and a Metro car shed. However, corporators said the BMC would require the plot to increase the capacity of the sewage station.

The second proposal was for a Metro Railway depot on a cluster of small plots at Kandivli, Malvani and Malad.

The Sena-BJP-controlled BMC and the Democratic Front-controlled MMRDA, which is building the Metro, have been at loggerheads over several issues in the past.

The municipal corporation had earlier planned to ask MMRDA to explain the “arbitrary use” of civic land for the Metro and demanded half the proceeds of the commercial development.

Municipal chief absent

Congress and Samajwadi Party corporators walked out of the Improvements Committee meeting to protest the absence of Municipal Commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya. “The commissioner does not have respect for this committee,” Congress corporator Vinod Shekhar said.

Crematorium or water pump?

The BMC is facing a strange problem at Kasaiwada in Kurla — it has to choose between a crematorium and a water pump.

The water pump is inside the crematorium premises.

A civic official said: “To ease the area’s water woes, we decided to upgrade the pump. To extend the pumping station, we require a larger part of the crematorium. However, we can’t cut into the site where rituals are conducted. We can’t shift the pumping station either as that is where the ideal water pressure is found.”

Sena corporator Yashodhar Phanse, who visited the site, said the Improvements Committee required more time to take a decision.