In a significant decision by Maharashtra’s ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday announced that the proposed new car shed for Mumbai Metro would be shifted to a new location at Kanjurmarg to save the forests of Aarey Colony in Goregaon.
“We have decided to con- struct the car shed on government land at Kanjurmarg, entailing no additional financial burden on the exchequer. The expenditure of around Rs 100 crore spent on a building at Aarey Colony will not go waste as it will be deployed for an appropriate use,” CM Thackeray said in an address to the state.
“Two Metro corridors — Colaba-Bandra-Seepz (Line 3) and Swami Samarth Nagar- Vikhroli (Line 6) — shall be integrated. I am happy to announce that the Aarey car shed is now being moved to Kanjurmarg,” he said.
Thackeray also said that an additional 200 acres of land will be reserved as “forest” in the Aarey Colony, besides the 600 acres declared last month, both linked to Mumbai’s sole jungle, the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), Borivali.
“The orders to the effect were issued last night (October 10) and will take up the new forest area (from 600 acres) to 800 acres which will be a boon to the city’s environment,” said the CM.
With this, the forest cover of Mumbai will go up from the existing 103 sq km to 106 sq km, mostly within the SGNP.
Thackeray reiterated that the cases filed against activists and groups who agitated to protect Aarey Colony forest would be withdrawn.
However, the BJP criticised the move, saying that it will cost an additional Rs 5,000 crore and delay the project by five years, besides an additional 8-km run daily to park the trains, adding to operating costs.
“And where is the land… Marshy land? Or the disputed land for which the Bombay High Court has asked the state government to deposit Rs 2,000 crore?” asked BJP state vice president Kirit Somaiya.
Spread over 106 square kms, the lush green SGNP, of which Aarey Colony is a buffer zone, has the distinction of being the only national park in the world located within a metropolitan city with a population of nearly two crore.
With IANS inputs