Thane: Orange Metro’s public hearing to take place at Niyojan Bhawan

A public consultation to understand the views and objections of the people along the Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan metro line will be held today morning at Thane’s Niyojan Bhawan.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has called for the meeting to quell the opposition from the residents of Bhiwandi and Kalyan to the 24.9km metro project, which has consequently been split into two phases – Thane-Bhiwandi and Bhiwandi-Kalyan. The construction work formally took off on December 18, 2018.

As per the original plans, the car depot was planned to come up between Bhiwandi and Kalyan, but resistance from people meant officials going back to the drawing boards to tweak the design as well as the car depot’s location.

Car depot remains distant reality

Substantial civil construction progress has been made along the first phase, but having a car depot to make the Mumbai Metro 5 operational remains a distant reality. Though MMRDA has zeroed in on a land parcel at Kasheli to create the depot facility, it is far from getting possession of the land parcel.

If this plot is handed over to MMRDA, it would be possible to make 12.7km of Mumbai Metro 5’s first phase operational. Else, the corridor will remain an elevated structure not coming into use for anyone.

Published on: Thursday, May 11, 2023, 10:23 PM IST