Metro car shed:Panel visits Aarey Colony and Kanjurmarg sites

A committee headed by Maharashtrachief secretary Sanjay Kumar, which was set up to recommendthe site for the construction of a metro car shed, on Mondayvisited Kanjurmarg and Aarey Colony sites, a member of thepanel said.

The Aarey Colony was the old site for the constructionof a proposed metro car shed before the the state governmentannounced shifting of the project to Kanjurmarg.

Members of the committee visited both the sites,before holding a meeting at the office of the MMRDA (MumbaiMetropolitan Region Development Authority) at the Bandra KurlaComplex.

The panel, which had met in the past on few occasions,is expected to submit its report to the government afterholding one or two more meetings, sources said.

The nine-member panel was set up by the stategovernment to recommend an appropriate site, either Kanjurmargor Aarey Colony, for the proposed car shed for metro-3 linebetween Colaba in south Mumbai and SEEPZ.

The Bombay High Court on December 14 stayed an orderpassed by Mumbai suburban district collector allotting 102acre of salt pan land in Kanjurmarg area for the constructionof an integrated Metro car shed.

A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta andJustice G S Kulkarni also restrained the authorities fromcarrying out any construction work at the said land.

The Centre and the Shiv Sena-led MVA government inMaharashtra are locked in a tussle over ownership of the landearmarked by the state for constructing the car depot whichwas earlier planned at Aarey Colony, a green belt in suburbanGoregaon.

The Union government has filed a petition in the highcourt challenging the October 1, 2020 order passed by thecollector allotting the land for construction of the car shed,and said the land belongs to its (Centre''s) salt department.

The then Maharashtra government led by the BJP haddecided to construct the car shed for the Mumbai Metro line 3at Aarey Colony in the western suburbs, despite oppositionfrom environmentalists and activists to the vast tree-cuttingfor the project.

The incumbent Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government hadlast year took a decision to shift the car shed from Aarey toKanjurmarg.

It decided to construct an integrated car shed atKanjurmarg for Metro lines 3, 4, 4A and 6, instead ofconstructing separate car sheds for these lines.