Mumbai : Wednesday’s Girgaum-Kalbadevi bandh — a call for which was given by a citizens’ committee that was opposed to displacement of residents by the Metro III project — has elicited support from various political parties, including the Shiv Sena, the MNS and the Congress.
Taking its call to its logical conclusion, the Girgaum Kruti Samitee (Girgaum Action Committee), which initially gave the call for the bandh, has organized a march from Princess Street to Thakurdwar on Wednesday and has appealed to residents to participate in the bandh in large numbers.
The bandh will also cover parts of Grant Road.
The state government’s ambitious project, which will connect Colaba to SEEPZ via Bandra, is in the eye of a storm. Citizens, activists, residents’ associations and celebrities have opposed the project, especially the Metro car shed at Aarey colony that will uproot nearly 2200 trees. The project will also lead
to the demolition of 26 buildings in the Girgaum-Kalba-devi area, to which the
residents of this area are protesting.
Although the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd has made it amply clear that project-affected people will get 600 sq feet houses as part of the rehabilitation deal, citizens seem unhappy about the arrangement.
Interestingly, every major political party has jumped into the fray to hog credit for a cause that has considerable support at the grass-root level. “We support this bandh in totality because we believe in the cause. We do not want development at the cost of environment or human interest. In Delhi, not a single house was demolished for constructing the Metro. Then why can’t Mumbai replicate that model? They should find some barren, untilised land for it,” said Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam.
