Amend master plan or shift Millennium depot, SC tells Delhi

The Supreme Court on Friday asked Delhi government to either amend the master plan to retain the Millennium bus depot on the banks of river Yamuna or shift it to some other place.

A bench of Chief Justice T.S.Thakur, Justice A.K.Sikri and Justice R. Banumathi gave the Delhi government a year's time to act either way.

The court made it clear that Delhi government would not get any further time beyond one year to decide the fate of the contentious depot which was set up in 2010 Commonwealth Games for a period of two weeks to park the low floor buses acquired for the event.

Environmentalist have been asking for the shifting of the Millennium Depot contending that Yamuna bank on which it is located is in fact a part of the flood plains of the river.

The apex court had on January 27 chided the Delhi government for backtracking on its undertaking on shifting of the depot, telling it that it was bound by an undertaking to vacate it.

The court had referred to the minutes of the meeting held on January 15, 2014, wherein Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that the depot would be vacated.

The court had earlier taken exception to the permanent structures being put up at the depot instead of temporary structures. There were 800 buses parked at Millennium depot, out of which 500 were moved out and 300 were left. The apex court had asked the Delhi government to move them out too.

The depot was built on about 50 acres of land at a cost of Rs.60 crore.