Authority to acquire 1,045 acres of land for metro car depots.
Taking a cue from the enormous number of hurdles it had to face acquiring land for the car depot of its first ever metro corridor from Versova to Ghatkopar, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has identified about 1,045 acres of land across the city, which it proposes to acquire. This land will be utilised for the upcoming six lines of metro in the city.
Additional metropolitan commissioner SVR Srinivas confirmed the development. “We have already sent a detailed proposal to the state government in this regard. The authority has faced numerous hurdles before acquiring the land for the first line of metro at DN Nagar. We do not want to get stuck in such a situation in future. Keeping this in mind, we have planned to acquire land in different parts of the city, which will be mainly used for car depots of metro as well as monorail,” Srinivas told DNA.
According to a senior MMRDA official, the authority has sent a proposal in this regard on November 14. “We have identified about 14 sites, which together measure about 1,045.76 acres. The proposal has been sent to urban development department as well as the collector office.
Since most of the land belongs to government, it has to follow a principle of ‘land grant’ under the revenue department,” the official said. When asked about the possibility of encroachments on the land, the official added that since the land belongs to the government, most of it is vacant with only a possibility of 10% encroachments.
Out of the 14 plots, which have been identified by MMRDA, the biggest land is in Kandivli RDP road no. 4 with an area on 262.59 acres; while the smallest piece of land is in Juhu Vile Parle Development (JVPD) area which is of 262.59 acres. Though the authority officials claim that there are no major encroachments on these plots, according to sources, the planning body may find it tough to vacate some of them.
Besides the land, MMRDA has also decided to go ahead with six more lines of the metro project. Metropolitan commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad told DNA that the authority has already appointed consultants to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the same. “We are expecting the reports by May next year. Out of the six lines, only two — Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) to Kanjurmarg via airport and Sewri to Prabhadevi — will be underground. The rest four will be elevated,” Gaikwad said.
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