This cut in the number of project affected families from the earlier 737 to 378 in the congested areas of the island city will help in reducing the land requirement and consequently, the rehabilitation cost.
To overcome resistance for the construction of the Girgaum and Kalbadevi stations on the Metro-III project, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) has amended its plans to allow for lesser number of buildings to be affected.
This cut in the number of project affected families from the earlier 737 to 378 in the congested areas of the island city will help in reducing the land requirement and consequently, the rehabilitation cost.
The plans for the stations on the underground Metro railway, which will wind its way on a 32.5-km distance from Colaba to Bandra and SEEPZ in the north-south direction, was being opposed by local residents who will be impacted by the construction despite the state's promise of rehabilitating them in situ.
A senior official from the Corporation said they had tweaked plans for the stations and had sent a proposal to the state urban development department. The new plans will ensure that only a handful of buildings, whose land will be acquired for amenities and evacuation of passengers, will be affected.
"The road has been shown as being 27metre wide in the development plan though the actual maximum width is just around 15metre. Though our stations will be around 20m underground, we need the area for ventilator shafts and staircases," the official said, adding that they had tweaked the plans to ensure that less land was needed for these facilities.
"We will not acquire contiguous land. Staircases can open up on the footpath or in the by-lanes despite an increase in the costs," he said.
The revised plan would bring down the number of families affected from 737 in 34 buildings to just around 378 in 18 buildings. Out of the total 378 project affected parties, 115 are residential units and 263 commercial. Instead of rehabilitating more number of families, one of the party-wedding hall is being looked at, that is how the authorities managed to save to reduce the total number of affected parties.
"During the reconstruction of these buildings, these families will be rehabilitated in the vicinity. Commercial properties will be given rent for them to hire other premises in the locality," he added. There are three redevelopment schemes for cessed buildings in the area where these residents could be given transit accommodation in resale areas for the around 18 to 24 months it will take for their new houses to come up.
The options include demolishing the most dilapidated of the buildings, which have a large footing first and using the new buildings constructed there to house the residents of the other affected buildings after which they can be demolished.
The other option is scrapping the plans for the Girgaum and Kalbadevi stations altogether. However, while this will save Rs 300 crore in costs, it is not possible to construct a new station in an underground metro railway route, thus making it highly unlikely to scrap. This means that these areas will continue to lack direct access to the Metro railway. The MMRC is seeking that the state government tweak its cluster redevelopment policy to allow them to take up work on buildings which are not contiguous.
The Urban Development Department has to give a nod to the revised plans, once approved activity on the ground at Girgaum and Kalbadevi can commence from November-December this year.
BUILDINGS NEEDED EARLIER
Kalbadevi: 24
Girgaum: 10
TOTAL AFFECTED PARTIES EARLIER 737
BUILDINGS NEEDED NOW
Kalbadevi: 13
Girgaum: 5
TOTAL AFFECTED PARTIES NOW
378
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