The 'Save Aarey Milk Colony', a group campaigning against construction of the metro rail car depot at Aarey Colony, has written to Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to conduct an environment enquiry into the metro rail project. JICA is partly funding the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz underground metro rail project in Mumbai.
As per the letter sent to JICA by Rishi Aggarwal of Save Aarey Milk Colony, the 'guidelines for environmental and social considerations' set by JICA is supportive towards environment. However, in case of Aarey Milk Colony, there will be destruction of natural surroundings.
The letter reads: "For the purpose of Metro Line 3 a car shed is supposed to be built on 70 acres of land identified closed to the Seepz end of the Metro. The carshed has been planned in Aarey Milk Colony, which is Mumbai's last remaining green lung. The carshed site has beautiful grasslands and forest and is situated next to the banks of Mithi river and in its catchment."
"As a result of situating the carshed in the present site, almost 2,000 trees will be cut, a very beautiful and scenic spot for citizens of Mumbai will be lost and there will be increased risk of downstream flooding in Mithi due to the loss of water holding capacity during the monsoons. Besides this, some 50 families who have been staying here since five decades and associated with their livelihood in the dairy business, will find their home and life uprooted and shifted elsewhere..." the correspondence adds.
Additionally, Aggarwal claims that neither Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation nor Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority officials have disclosed information about the impact it will have on the environment in terms of sharing Environment Impact Assessment and Initial Environment Evaluation reports.
"There is a national park 5 kms off the carshed site and the Aarey Milk Colony is important as a buffer area which also sees movements of leopards from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and plays a role in easing man-animal conflict," reads the letter.
On the environment subject, officials from Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) said that the concerns raised by the activists are fair but they have raised objections very late when the project is undergoing tendering stage. "The car depot was decided at Aarey Milk Colony land over a year ago. At that juncture, no such campaign was carried out," informed an official.
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