A report of the civil engineering department of the IIT says the elevated metro has no expansion potential. Mumbai needs an underground metro instead of an elevated one.
Mumbai needs an underground metro instead of an elevated one. Advocated by a number of citizen groups, this opinion now has the backing of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Powai.
A report of the civil engineering department of the IIT says the elevated metro has no expansion potential. It also slams the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) for planning the metro in a haphazard way. It says the authority has taken no initiative to address the city’s complex transportation issue in a comprehensive way.
“A viability study for the possibility of an underground metro was never considered. The decision to pursue with an elevated metro is thus taken arbitrarily without any comprehensive evaluation,” says the report, adding the consultants were not given a proper brief.
The report — a copy of which is with DNA — was prepared by SL Dhingra, an expert in transportation system engineering at the IIT. “The elevated metro plan for Mumbai’s suburbs has no future expansion potential. This factor is detrimental to the planning and implementation of any public service, particularly for transportation,” the report says.
Backing the underground metro, the report further says that it can, at any time, expand with additional routes and directions.
It thus has the scope to deal with future needs and demands. Criticising MMRDA for discriminating against Mumbaikars staying in the suburbs, the report says, “It is a known fact that the density in suburbs is equal to, and even higher than, most parts of the city. The volume of construction is higher due to factors like TDR use, SRA projects and growing slums.’’
The report ends with questioning the intentions of the state government as well. “If the government really does care for the public and wants to solve the future problems of mass transport, it must go for an underground metro for the whole length.”
The report also lends support to the stand of many citizen groups in the city. All major cities of the world like New York, London and Paris have underground metros, says Vijay Barve, member of a citizen group in Linking Road, Bandra. The administrators of Mumbai are being backward by constructing an elevated metro, he adds.
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