New station near Thane to come up soon as Bombay HC lifts stay on land transfer to Central Railway

Thane: New railway station between Thane and Mulund near the Thane mental hospital after the Bombay High Court lifted a stay and allowed transfer of the institution's 14-acre-land.

A Hindustan Times report cited Chief Minister Eknath Shinde saying that the HC's decision will pace the work and a new station will reduce burden of commuter footfalls on Thane and Mulund railway stations relieving thousands of daily commuters.

Thane station, which is one of the oldest Central Railway stations, sees a footfall of six to seven lakh daily commuters, stated the HT report.

Reportedly, the new station was proposed over eight years ago. Central Railway had approved of the plan and allotted Rs 298 crore for the same under Thane Municipal Corporation's Smarty city scheme.

The work was scheduled to begin after the land transfer from state health department to CR; the railways needed 14.83 acres of land from the hospital's 72-acre premises.

The Bombay High Court though, in August 2015, had in an interim order in PIL filed, had directed the Thane collector not to create third-party rights and the land transfer couldn't happen despite project having technical and financial approvals.

Bombay HC verdict

Chief Justice of HC SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne lifting the stay said that adequate care be taken to ensure that female wards of the mental hospital should not be impacted and alternative rehabilitation arrangements should be made before land transfer.

CM Shinde's statement

CM Shinde in a statement said that the new station will reduce 31% the burden of Thane railway station and 21% of Mulund Railway station.

He also said that the HC decision underlines once again that judiciary takes positive stance when issues concern larger public interest and creation of ground infrastructure facilities.

Cluster developments for Thane, Kalwa

Reportedly, the HC decision came a day before Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis were to inaugurate cluster of development works in Thane and Kalwa.

They were scheduled to perform bhoomi pujan for Rs 398 crore worth projects and beautification works in Thane and Kalwa today. They also were scheduled to inaugurate the underground parking lot at Gaondevi maidan near Thane station.