A presentation held by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) authorities to throw light on the current status of the Metro-9 (Dahisar to Bhayandar) rail route, turned into a verbal battle between the BJP and Shiv Sena corporators over the “New” names of the eight stations. In response to a request by Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) Mayor- Jyotsna Hasnale, the MMRDA had held the presentation for the municipal corporators at the civic body’s general body hall in Bhayandar on Thursday. As per the current plan, the elevated corridor will link Dahisar (east) with Bhayandar (west) and will have eight stations.
However, the corporators vehemently opposed the “new” names given to the stations, which according to them were completely different from those which were discussed and approved in the general body meeting held in December-2017. MMRDA’s executive engineer- Yojana Patil clarified that the naming was in accordance with the government resolution. This led to a blame game between the BJP and Sena members who accused each other’s government ( MVA and BJP) for the blunder. Hasnale winded up the presentation after asking the MMRDA officials to give a written clarification on the issue.
The ongoing work of the Metro-9 rail route has gathered momentum, as the local populace eagerly waits for its completion. Presently, commuters largely rely on heavily crowded local trains even as the twin-city still lacks an efficient public bus transport service, forcing people to rely on non-metered auto-rickshaws and cabs for their commute. An extension of Metro 7 (Andheri East to Dahisar East), the Metro-9 is a 13.581 km route including 1 1.389 long elevated corridor.
