Bandra residents are upset with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s (MMRDA) decision to delete National College Metro Station on the Metro 2B line (Andheri West-Mandale), as they had been asking the authorities to shift the station to its original location and not do away with it completely.
Their elected representative from Bandra West MLA Ashish Shelar too has been left on the back foot on MMRDA’s latest move.
Demand was not to delete the metro station completely
Zameer Palamkote told the Free Press Journal that the demand was very clear – to relocate the metro station to the originally planned location near the Jeevan Kiran Bungalow and save Sadhu Vaswani Garden and not to delete it completely. “There are four colleges in the area. Thousands of students will be inconvenienced with the deletion of this metro station,” added Palamkote.
“During one of our meetings with the MMRDA officials, we asked them if they had conducted any feasibility study on ridership from this station, only to be told in negative. They told us that a feasibility study is not done for each of the individual stations and it is conducted for the entire corridor,” said Pashin Katpitia, resident, Tata Blocks at Bandra West.
The station is also crucial for shoppers who throng to the bustling linking road. By removing this metro station completely, the distance between Bandra and Khar Metro Stations now is 2km.
'MMRDA move to create rift among residents'
Some of the residents are also of the view that the MMRDA has made the move to create rift among the residents. Although MLA Shelar has put up banners and posters in Bandra claiming success of his efforts to save Sadhu Vaswani Garden, he also has been put on a back foot with MMRDA’s decision.
Now, the residents are also upset with MLA Shelar, who has suddenly become tight lipped. To the Free Press Journal, Shelar shared that he only had asked the MMRDA to relocate the metro station a few metres away to its original location, when pointedly asked if he is in favour of deletion of the station, he replied, “I will not comment.”
According to the residents, the resolution was simple – the station should have been moved 100 metres north of S V Road. Alternatively, the staircase could have been moved away from Sadhu Vaswani Garden and certain station pillars if incorrectly located.
So far, the MMRDA officials maintained that relocating the metro station to the originally planned location has its own set of challenges owing to the sewage treatment plant shaft causing obstruction in building station pillars.
