Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Metro Bhavan moved out of SGNP; to come up at Dahisar
MUMBAI: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s (MMRDA) Metro Bhavan project, which will house the command-and-control centre to operate the city’s upcoming 337km metro rail network, is being relocated to Dahisar from its original location in Aarey Colony.
According to MMRDA officials in the know, this building will be the nerve centre of all 14 Mumbai Metro lines, and will also have a training academy, simulation facility, and surveillance system.
To be sure, this project is entirely distinct from the Metro-3 car-shed, which is located in a different part of Aarey, and has been the centre of heated debate after the Shinde govt. reinstated the depot in Aarey Colony, reversing a celebrated decision taken by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray after coming to power in 2019.
The originally proposed location of Metro Bhavan (Survey
No. 598A, Goregaon East) lies inside the delineated eco-sensitive buffer zone around Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), which was notified by the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) in December 2016. For this reason, environmentalists had staunchly objected to the project alongside the Metro-3 car-shed.
The MMRDA had even sought environment clearance (EC) for the 32-storey building on December 17, 2020. The matter was then recommended for clearance by a State Level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) on Feb 17, 2021. The proposal was further considered by the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) on Feb 26, 2021, when it was “deferred for compliance of change of land use,” as per publicly available documents.
Notably, some 20,387 sq m of Aarey land were proposed to be converted from a “No Development
Zone” to a “residential zone”, for the project as per the MMDRA’s EC application. The state had invited suggestions and objections from citizens on this change in land use, in August 2019. It received 2,563 responses by March 2020. Virtual public hearings to address citizens’ concerns commenced in July 2020, but the minutes of these are not publicly available.
An official from MMRDA privy to the development, seeking anonymity, said, “The final notification for the proposed land use change would have been contentious from this point of view. There are now two plots in Dahisar and Mandale where the Metro Bhavan and Metro-2B car-shed will come up, very close to each other. The sites are not in any eco-sensitive zone or area with restrictions on land use. We will apply for fresh environment clearance from the state department.”
While environmentalists said this was a positive step, they clarified that it should not distract the public from the reality that the hotly contested Metro-3 car-shed is still being pursued in the face of widespread opposition. “Metro Bhavan and the car-shed are guilty of the same violations. If the MMRDA can show sense and find another place for the Metro Bhavan building at this stage, after preliminary work on site has begun, surely the destructive car-shed can also be moved to Kanjurmarg by the MMRCL,” said Stalin D, director, Vanashakti NGO.