After BMC, Metro suffers as quarries stay shut

After the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) pre-monsoon road repair works were abandoned due to the halt on operations at stone quarries in Navi Mumbai, the MMRDA is now stuck in a similar situation. The shutdown of quarries has affected the execution of civil works by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for Metro projects in the city.

According to MMRDA officials, the agency plans on requesting authorities to give the quarries on lease to the MMRDA. Pravin Darade, the additional metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, said, "Due to the quarries being shut our Metro work has been affected. We are going to ask for leasing quarries specially for Metro projects. Considering it is the monsoon season, and the work is only done during dry spells, we have time to sort out this problem."

Previously, pre-monsoon works of the BMC and MMRDA were also affected due to operations at quarries in Navi Mumbai being shut. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is currently hearing a petition that contends that quarrying is being carried out beyond permissible limits.

Currently, civil works on three Metro corridors is underway in the city. These include the Dahisar-DN Nagar corridor on the Link Road, Dahisar east-Andheri east corridor and the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ underground corridor.