Alternative route for Metro rail not possible: MEGA tells HC

Metro-Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA) Company Ltd today told the Gujarat High Court that alternative route for the north-south corridor of this proposed transport service was not possible.
MEGA said this in response to a petition filed by the project-affected residents of housing societies in Vejalpur area.
22 residents of Vejalpur area of the city, who might have to lose their residential properties to the metro rail project, had moved the high court, alleging that acquisition of their properties, including houses and shops, by MEGA was not in accordance with Land Acquisition Act of 2013.
"Objections raised by the residents of the affected societies was premature as the final report on social impact assessment (SIA) was yet to be submitted," General Manager (Planning) of MEGA Company Ltd, Anil Gupta, said in an affidavit.

"The route for the North-South corridor was deliberated upon and Western Railway was involved in finding out the feasibility, so that there is minimum acquisition of private property," Gupta added.
However, the railway officials ultimately did not agree with the second option in their inspection note dated September 10, 2014, he told the the HC bench of Justices Harsha Devani and G B Shah.

The petitioners, residents of two societies located near Jivraj overbridge in Vejalpur area, from where the north-south elevated corridor starts, have claimed that they would lose their houses and shops due to the project.
Gupta said the state government had approached the

Western Railway with the request to use its "underutilised railway corridor" for the two corridors of the metro so as to limit acquisition of private property.
While the Western Railway gave in-principle approval for East-West corridor, it did not agree with the option provided by MEGA for North-South corridor as it failed to meet the "engineering requirement and safety norms of railway working," the respondent stated.
MEGA has appointed a private consulting firm to provide socio-economic information of PAFs. Rail India Technical and Economical Services (RITES), which has been appointed by the state government to prepare a social impact assessment report, is yet to submit its final report as residents of the affected societies did not participate in the public consultation meetings.

"The fact remains that RITES is yet to submit its final report...Under the circumstances, to comment upon the various aspects referred to by the petitioners in the said ground ...Would be premature...," he stated.