Will a bit of Mumbai be left? Or will we be left only with Metro?

The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra government to file a reply clarifying whether the due process had been followed in allotting around 25 hectares of land in Aarey Milk colony for the construction of a car shed for Mumbai Metro III.

A bench of justices SC Dharmadhikari and Bharati Dangre also asked the state government and Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) to tell the court about the extent of ecological damage that the construction work for the proposed car shed is likely to cause. It directed the state to file its reply by March 1.

The MMRC had filed an affidavit in the high court stating that it would ensure that damage caused to the green cover is restricted to the minimum. The bench, however, asked the MMRC to explain what it meant by minimum damage. “What is your standard for minimum and maximum damage? What kind of construction work will be undertaken for the car shed? You will need to construct a parking shed, an office block, and some related infrastructure. What kind of ecological damage will all this cause?” it said.

When the bench asked the State government for its opinion, it submitted that its stand was similar to that taken by the MMRC in its affidavit. This prompted the bench to ask, on a lighter note, if "The state was running the Mumbai Metro, or the Metro was running the state government?"

"We want to know for how long this construction work will go on? Today, it takes at least two hours to reach anywhere in Mumbai, courtesy you (MMRC)," the bench said, referring to the traffic woes inflicted by the Metro III construction work. "Everything is dug up. We wonder whether at the end of all this, will any bit of Mumbai be left? Or will we be left only with Mumbai Metro," the bench said.

The bench also asked the state government why the petitioners' request of shifting the car shed project to a vacant plot in Kanjurmarg could not be complied with. The petitioners, some NGOs and activists, had alleged that a suitable alternative plot was available in Kanjurmarg. The state's counsel A Y Patki, however, told the bench that the Kanjurmarg land was under litigation and pursuing the same would significantly delay the Metro project.