MUMBAI: Report of the panel on Metro car shade at Aarey is not binding on the government, Maharashtra minister for environment and tourism Aaditya Thackeray said as he attended the 25th “breakthrough” in the tunneling work of the Metro 3 underground line here on Wednesday.
“The report of the panel has not been received completely as yet. It might have come to the CMO, but it is yet to be read and discussed. Also, it is not binding on the government to follow the recommendations made in the report. The government shall study the report and make the decision keeping in mind the public sentiments,” Thackeray said as he attended the function at Worli in Central Mumbai.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had last month appointed a four-member committee under Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Manoj Saunik to explore and suggest alternative locations elsewhere to shift the car shed for the 33.5-km long underground Colaba-Bandra-Seepz corridor out of the green zone at Aarey in Western suburbs. The committee submitted its report to the CMO on Tuesday wherein it said that there was no viable alternative location available in Mumbai for the Metro car shade.
However, Aaditya Thackeray, who had supported the environmental activists opposing the Metro car shade at Aarey, said, “As promised, the government is committed to sustainable development and decisions would be taken in light of this principle.”
While reacting to the development, leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis said that his government too had appointed a committee way back in 2015 to study various locations for the Metro car shade and had finalized the location only after their report approved it.
“If the new panel has endorsed the Aarey site for Metro car shade, the government should immediately lift the stay on construction of the Metro car shade. The delay is causing Rs 5 crore loss to the state exchequer every day. Hence, the government should not increase the burden and accept the report immediately and restart the work quickly,” Fadnavis said.
According to CMO sources, the report of the Saunik committee too has said that shifting the car shade from Aarey to other location won’t be financially viable.
The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had cleared chopping of over 2,000 trees for the Metro car shade at Aarey. The trees were chopped down in a single night amidst protests and petitions in court last year. Shiv Sena had opposed the act and had promised to shift the car shade if it comes to power. Owing to the promise, Chief Minister Thackeray had put a stay on the construction of the car shade immediately after assuming the power.
Activists, however, appear to be divided over the issue. While urban researcher Hussain Indorewala said it was utmost necessary to shift the car shade from its current location at Aarey considering the loss of vegetation and several other impacts on fragile ecosystem like flooding, a few others like urban planning expert Sulakshana Mahajan said, though they too would like the car shade to be shifted out of the green area, if not viable, it should come with several other measures to reduce its negative impact.