Metro 9: BJP, Sena begin the battle to take credit

The state Cabinet’s approval on Wednesday for two new metro projects in Mumbai including the Dahisar-Mira Bhayandar route (Metro Line 9) has resulted in a bitter credit claiming battle between the local BJP and Shiv Sena leaderships in the twin-city.

While the BJP is on the helm of affairs in the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC), the Shiv Sena leads the Opposition after both the parties parted ways on the eve of civic elections held in August-2017.

After the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) had announced its plans of introducing metro connectivity for the twin-city, the BJP-led MBMC was quick to finalize the names of nine proposed stations. However, the project had largely remained on paper for the past more than two years.

The Shiv Sena has been launching agitations to register their protest against the BJP-led governance for dangling various projects – mainly Metro Rail services. “We have been relentlessly following up on the issue. Yes, there has been a delay but it was only due to the materialisation of a unified plan of metro along with the construction of much needed road over bridges to end the traffic menace on the stretch of road between Golden Nest and Kashimira. The opposition stands exposed of misguiding people for their selfish motives,” said Mayor Dimple Mehta.

The Dahisar-Mira Bhayandar route will be 10.41 kmlong elevated corridor.

“It is because of our protests that the government was forced to act. We will not stop here, our agitations will continue till the actual ground work for metro begins,” said Sena legislator Pratap Sarnaik.

Presently, commuters largely rely on heavily crowded local trains even as the twin-city still lacks an efficient public bus transport service, forcing people to rely on non-metered autorickshaws and cabs for their commute.