Mumbai: No clarity on other proposed Aarey projects

Mumbai: No clarity on other proposed Aarey projects

Sweety AdimulamUpdated: Saturday, November 30, 2019, 08:26 AM IST
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Mumbai: On Day 1, immediately after taking charge as the chief minister of Maharashtra, in his cabinet meeting, Uddhav Thackeray passed orders to stall the Metro III carshed in Aarey. With this announcement, the new CM fulfilled his promise he made to Mumbaikars before the election.

The CM ordered to stall n the construction of the controversial Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro Line-III depot in Aarey. He said, “I am the first CM who is born and brought up in Mumbai, and thus I am well aware of my city issues. In my presence, not a single tree or leaf in Aarey will be allowed to be cut,” providing major respite to the #Save Aarey movement activists.

However, there is no clarity on other projects proposed in the green zone. Apart from the proposed metro depot in Aarey, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) had also proposed Metro-Bhavan project costing Rs914 crore, comprising of a 32-storey structure. The bhavan will act as a control room for the 13 metro corridors planned across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

Furthermore, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) had planned to construct row houses for 2,000 tribals of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and a multi-storey building for slum-dwellers costing around Rs3,500 crore in Aarey.

Zoru Bhathena, a city-based activist and a petitioner seeking Aarey to be labelled as a forest expressed his happiness over the CM’s decision. Welcoming the decision, he said, “It’s the first step towards stopping the immediate damage to the Aarey forests due to the construction of depot here. Of course, we want Aarey to be declared as a forest. It will protect the only green cover of Mumbai from any other future projects.”

With Uddhav’s decision of no more Metro-III depot in Aarey, the government will now look for another location. According to MMRCL’s previous statements, before finalising Aarey for the depot construction, the other options recommended was the Kanjurmarg saltpan land, Backbay Reclamation. However, of all these sites, Aarey was found feasible by the authority technically. Also, a double-deck car depot was recommended in Aarey, but due to its huge cost, the plan was not considered by the authority.

The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL), which is responsible for the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro Line-III work had planned to construct the depot on 30 hectares of land parcel in Aarey despite receiving nearly a lakh objections from environmentalists and citizens.

The Metro-III authority immediately fell 2,141 trees in the dead of the night on October 4, hours after the Bombay High Court dismissed four petitions by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and activists challenging the decision to allow the felling of trees in Aarey.

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