The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) implementing the Metro 3 project along with depot construction at controversial site inside Aarey issued a statement on Thursday about what are they doing. The statement mentioned that the Govt. of Maharashtra, by its letter dated July 21, 2022, has revoked the stay order dated November 29, 2019 and directed them to start work at Metro car depot site. Accordingly, preparatory work of site cleaning and levelling has been undertaken. Contractors have begun the re-mobilisation at the site. All the works being undertaken are in strict compliance with relevant orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, Hon’ble Bombay High Court and that of Government of Maharashtra.
The statement has been issued after Aarey forest conservation group claimed that trees are being cut inside Aarey despite SC's status quo on it. A contempt petition has also been filed by an NGO Vanshakti group in SC a hearing is scheduled on Friday.
The MMRC statement further informed that the temporary train delivery facility for unloading, assembling and stabling the first Metro train and for conducting trial and testing on Main Line has already been completed in consonance with earlier orders issued by the Government of Maharashtra. This facility is at the exit point of the tunnel at the ramp area near Marol Maroshi Road. 8 coaches of one full train are made in India and are on the way to the facility by road from the SriCity. Trial runs are expected to start soon.
MMRC will undertake the car depot work independent of the delivery facility as both these activities would be in progress simultaneously, it added.
Explaining about the importance of depot, the MMRC said that a car depot is a crucial nerve centre of any Metro line. Besides the day-to-day maintenance, the car depot is used for preventive, corrective and also major maintenance activities. These facilities ensure the proper functioning of the rolling stock. These are the critical aspects for comfortable, speedy and safe journey of commuters every day. There are Stabling Lines, wheel profiling facilities, test tracks to run safety checks on trains and other infrastructure related to passenger safety, comfort and maintenance of other infrastructure of Line 3. It will also house the Operation Control Centre (OCC).
Road trailers carrying 8 cars of prototype train of Mumbai Metro Line-3 have been dispatched from ALSTOM’s Train manufacturing plant at SriCity in Andhra Pradesh and will be arriving soon in Mumbai.
To conduct initial design proving trial runs of this prototype train, temporary facilities have been set up near ramp of the MML3 tunnels at Marol Maroshi Road, Sariput Nagar to receive and assemble its metro cars. This prototype train will further undergo static testing, maintained and parked in this temporary facility.
Initial design proving trial runs of prototype train will be conducted in the 3-kms stretch of MML3 tunnel from this temporary facility to Marol Naka Metro Station.
MMRC expects to complete the car depot work and start commercial operations of Phase-I – SEEPZ to BKC – in the first quarter of 2024.
Meanwhile, on Thursday the Mumbai Police of Aarey police station found 12 activists suspiciously moving near Aarey metro depot site. They were taken to Aarey police station and released after giving due warning, the police said.
Ramesh Prabhu Chairman of Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association (MahaSeWA) said that this notification will stop banks from encroaching the developers' accounts from where they have taken a loan. He explained, "If a builder takes a loan from a particular bank they in return ask them to open an account. So whenever the buyers' money gets deposited in this account the bank cuts the loan instalment. This prevents the developer from using that money on the project. This will stop now as developers will have separate accounts where the allottee's money can be deposited along with the loan borrowed." This separate account of registered real estate project will not have any encumbrance with the bank, he added.
