MMRDA chief says second line can’t be underground as that would require Rs56,000 crore more.
Citing financial and technical constraints, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) categorically said on Friday that the metro’s second line between Charkop and Mankhurd via Bandra will not be underground. The authority made its stance clear even as residents of suburbs from Andheri to Bandra gear up for a protest march on September 19, demanding the route to be underground.
Speaking on the issue, MMRDA metropolitan commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad said that the authority would have been more than happy to construct an underground metro. “However, the cost will be a whopping Rs56,000 crore extra. Where will these funds come from?” he asked. “We are struggling to raise the viability gap for the metro lines already proposed.”
Before the Lok Sabha elections last year, Gaikwad had raised the same issue at a meeting with residents and chief minister Ashok Chavan. “The residents did not have an answer when the monetary issues were raised by the MMRDA officials,” he said.
Having the second line underground was not technically feasible either, he said. “We will need to construct a ramp from where the metro can go from elevated to underground and vice versa,” he said. “However, there is no such patch either in Andheri or Bandra.”
The local residents, through a number of non-governmental organisations, have been demanding that the second line should be underground and not elevated. The residents’ organisations have claimed that the MMRDA has messed up the first line, which is an elevated 11.8-km route between Versova and Ghatkopar via Andheri.
“There is absolutely no clarity about the metro bridge, as part of the first line, over the Andheri railway tracks,” said Shirley Singh, a resident and activist, in a press statement. “Work on just two columns of the metro bridge over the Andheri flyover is going on for the last 12 months. The MMRDA does not have access to at least a three-km stretch (out of 11.8km) because of congested roads, litigation issues, and other actualities.”
She added that there are 12 stations planned (four in the high-rise category), of which construction of only two has reached up to the slab level. Permission for these two has been rejected by the fire department for a lack of provisions for evacuation during fire or other emergencies.
However, Gaikwad refuted all the allegations levelled against the first line. “The first line is right on track and work for the railway over-bridge in Andheri is underway. There is no issue of Right Of Way. We are creating history by running the metro through a very narrow road alignment.”
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