Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation urges Bombay HC to hear Parsi petition on Metro 3

The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRCL) on Friday urged the Bombay High Court to hear a petition filed by the members of the Parsi community regarding work near two fire temples, so that tunnelling work for Metro 3 could resume. 

“We are running against time and the work (underground work) has reached very close,” Senior advocate Shrihari Aney, appearing for the corporation, said while informing the Bombay High Court that tunnelling work has reached near the two Fire Temples in Kalbadevi.

Justice Abhay Oka said that a priest of the Parsi communtiy has been writting several letters to him highlighting the issue.

The court posted the matter for further hearing on Tuesday and also directed MMRCL to submit details of work carried out in the nearby area, which would help petitioners put their case across.

As per plan, the tunnels will pass directly under two fire temples and Atash Behrams (sacred fires) — one at the junction of Princess Street and the other at Kalbadevi. The petitioners hold that the work will lead to desecration of the holy fires, threaten the structural safety of the temples — both of which are heritage structures — and that the temple wells may run dry. The MMRCL denied that the work would cause such damage.