MAHARASHTRA (METRO RAIL NEWS): Despite the fact that the Uddhav Thackeray-led government promised to relocate the Metro-3 car shed from Aarey Colony soon being in power in November 2019, construction on a connecting ramp at Prajapurpada village in Arrey has been ongoing for the past 18 months.
Concern over this development has been highlighted by environmentalists.
The ramp, a crucial component of Metro-3’s infrastructure, will let trains leaving the SEEPZ metro station’s underground entrance reach the car shed for repair.
Locals in Aarey are observing a frenzy of activity at the ramp site just two days after the Eknath Shinde–Bharatiya Janata Party government lifted the previous administration’s hold on construction of the depot in Aarey.
“After the ramp’s construction was finished a few months ago, there was a period of silence, but now there is activity there once again. The connection between the ramp and the depot site, which is a lovely green environment, forested area, will soon begin, according to Tabrez Sayed, an Aarey local.
Sanjay Karhade, the MMRCL (Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited) spokesperson, informed that they would provide updates at a press conference in upcoming week.
The Metro-3 ramp work is, however, “basically complete,” according to a senior official with the MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority), which is a 50:50 partner in MMRCL with the Central government.
“MMRCL never took a break while building the ramp at Aarey. It was only the depot plot that was safe. The work needed for the ramp to access the vehicle shed can be completed relatively quickly now that the government has clearly expressed its intention that it intends to have the car shed in Aarey, the unnamed official said.
Environmentalists, on the other hand, claimed that are not at all amazed. The state government instructed MMRDA and MMRCL to take action in March 2021 to connect the ramp with Metro-6 line on Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road, therefore making it impossible to construct the car shed on the contested land. However, MMRCL just disregarded this order and continued to construct the ramp. “They have kept this infrastructure ready in case the government falls,” Zoru Bhatena said.
Following that, in September 2021, MMRCL responded to Save Aarey activist Amrita Bhattacharjee’s complaints about the ongoing ramp construction. This is to inform that the Maharashtra government has approved the committee’s recommendations for moving the Metro-3 project’s car depot from Aarey Colony to Kanjurmarg. As a result, work is currently underway at the Aarey Colony location.
“As we can now see, this was a total fabrication. The project to link the Metro-3 ramp to the Metro-6 line and to take trains to Kanjurmarg never got off the ground, according to Bhattacharjee.
This metro is very essential for Mumbai. These protestors are not environmentalists. They are the rich people who come there in diesel-guzzling SUVs for the morning walk. Every year, 3000 people die on Mumbai’s overcrowded trains. Let’s save those people; not these protestors.