New Mumbai metro chief non-committal on car shedin Aarey Colony

The new chief of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, Ranjit Singh Deol, sounded non-committal on the future of the controversial car-shed in the green lung of the megapolis, but is resolute in getting the ambitious Colaba-Seepz line completed on time.

The largest metro line the 33-km fully underground Colaba-Bandra-Seepz -- has run into a controversy after the then BJP-led government pushed ahead with the plan to have the car-shed built in the heart of Aarey Colony, one of the few green lungs of the city, against stiff opposition from the public and also from the then ruling ally Shiv Sena.

On his first day in office, Deol told PTI that his priority is to ensure timely completion of the ambitious line-3 but said he will thoroughly review the entire project first.

"The project faces many challenges but I don't have an in-depth knowledge about it as I have taken charge just today. I will have to first review the project. But my priority is to get the project completed on time," Deol said.

When specifically asked about the future of the controversial car-shed project in Aarey, Deol sounded non-committal saying, I have to review the entire project. But the priority is timely completion.

It can be noted that the project ran into controversy after the Shiv Sena leaders led by Aditya Thackeray had opposed the construction of the car-shed in the run-up to the Assembly polls as there was huge public opposition to the felling of trees.

Deol's predecessor Ashwini Bhide came under flak for her defence of felling the trees in Aarey for the metro carshed.

As public opposition mounted the then Devendra Fadnavis government rushed to the Bombay High Court which allowed the project. But the greens challenged it in the Supreme Court, which also let the same but with riders as the colony is home to tens of hundreds of flora and fauna.

The project had already cost close to 2,141 trees.

The 33-km long fully underground Colaba-Bandra-Seepz metro-3 is among the most ambitious of the 13 metro lines coming up in the megapolis.

Prior to the new job, Deol was the vice-chairman and managing director of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation.

It can be noted that the junior Thackeray, who is also the present tourism and environment minister, had last year sought Bhide's transfer for felling the trees at the Aarey Colony.

Last December, MMRC had claimed that the entire tunneling for the 33-km corridor will be over by September.

Apart from this, the corporation hopes to complete 70 percent of civil works and get the first rolling stock by this December, MMRC said in a statement.