Big setback to Uddhav's govt! Bombay HC stays metro car shed work at Kanjurmarg

Mumbai, Dec 17: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday stayed the Maharashtra government’s order allocating 102 acres of salt pan in Mumbai’s Kanjurmarg for an integrated metro car shed. It also asked Mumbai Metro Rail Development Authority (MMRDA) to maintain the status quo.

 

 

“Be it the state or the Centre, no one should create hurdles in the way of development. In my 30 years of political life, I have never brought politics in the way of development,” said deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.

 

The Metro 3 car shed witnessed a bitter battle between BJP and its former ally the Shiv Sena. The BJP government had decided to have the car shed at Aarey. However, the Shiv Sena took it up as an opportunity and opposed the project along with the environmentalists saying it would harm wildlife. Work for the shed began by felling several trees but when the Sena came to power in coalition with the NCP and Congress, it decided to relocate the project to Kanjurmarg.

 

Reacting to the order issued by Bombay High Court, former Maharashtra chief minister and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Devendra Fadnavis said, "I had said in the House yesterday that the order given by the state government to the MMRDA was wrong. Even if the land was clear, it would be wrong to move the car shed there, the committee formed on the subject reported. So why the state government's insistence in this regard?"

 

Fadnavis further added that just to satisfy its personal ego, the state government is making Mumbaikars suffer by delay in Metro. "Leave the ego and use the space provided by the Supreme Court." The state government has been literally slapped by the court, he further said. Fadnavis also said that the government says that there should not be obstacles in Mumbai metro, but it was due to the decision of the state government.

 

The Mumbai Metro, which was supposed to be available to Mumbaikars by 2021, is now extended to 2024. "Not only the state government but the centre also has a 50 percent share in this. The central committee had also refused to move the metro car shed. The car shed would have been taken to Kanjur Marg, but the work of metro rack would have been done in Aarey Colony," said Fadnavis. The ‘ego’ barb was aimed at Thackeray who had vocally opposed the Aarey project.