The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) spokesperson stated that it is continuing the metro car shed work at the Kanjurmarg site, setting aside all speculation that is being made following a private party, which has now claimed to be the leasee of the said property. Earlier, the Union Government had sent a letter to the state chief secretary to stop metro depot work claiming that the land is of their ownership.
However, the authority has not stopped but rather continued its metro depot work on the controversial Kanjurmag site progressively. In a new development, it has initiated the work of peripheral road on the said location. The road once ready will be useful for carrying machinery and material for the construction of the depot, informed the MMRDA official.
Reportedly, soil testing was done to check the possibility of whether the said Kanjurmarg land is marshy, which has been ruled out, and therefore metro depot can be built, as per the MMRDA.
The Mahavikas Aghadi government declared Kanjurmarg land for the construction of the car depot of Metro Line 3 (Colaba--Bandra -SEEPZ) instead of Aarey, due to strong objections raised by the citizens over environmental concerns. Previously, the MMRDA had only planned Line 6 (Samarth Nagar-Vikrohli) depot at Kanjurmarg and after the government's announcement now Line 3 depot will be also here. Besides, it is also planning to have Metro 4 (Wadala--Kasarvadavli) depot on this site along with the terminal station of Line 14 (Badlapur--Kanjurmarg). In October it had received about 100 acres of the land parcel from the suburban collector and now it is gearing up with the construction of the biggest metro hub at Kanjurmarg having multiple depots and more stabling lines for different metro routes.
