Metro car shed to be built in Aarey Colony, Eknath Shinde reverses Uddhav Thackeray's decision
Many environmentalists opposed the construction at Aarey, an extension of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and a habitat for leopards and other fauna.
Reversing Uddhav Thackeray government's previous decision, Maharashtra's new Eknath Shinde government on Thursday directed the Advocate General that the metro car shed would be built in Aarey Colony, Mumbai. Reports suggest that the present state government will present its side before the court in the matter.
In the cabinet meeting held on Thursday, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis directed the officials of the Urban Development Department to bring before the Cabinet the proposal for construction of a car shed in Aarey. Deputy CM said that the 33-km-long underground Metro project between Colaba-Bandra-Seepz was stuck due to a legal dispute over the Kanjurmarg plot.
In the Cabinet meeting, Devendra Fadnavis asked the bureaucrats whether the courts could be informed through the Advocate General that the car shed would be built in Aarey itself. In the meeting, CM Eknath Shinde supported this move. The move to shift the car shed from Aarey has been a major cause of controversy between the Shiv Sena and its former ally BJP.
What is the controversy around Aarey and metro car shed?
On November 29, 2019, a day after taking over as the Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray overturned Devendra Fadnavis's decision to build a metro car shed in Aarey.
Maharashtra government led by the then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that the government is bound to cut trees in Mumbai's Aarey forest to build the car shed.
Many environmentalists in Mumbai opposed the construction of a car shed at Aarey, an extension of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and a habitat for leopards and other fauna.
Environmentalists, who claimed that the car shed would damage large tracts of greenery in Mumbai, were supported by Aaditya Thackeray, son of Uddhav Thackeray.
Soon after the Maha Vikas Aghadi government came to power with Uddhav Thackeray at the helm, 804 acres of land in Aarey was declared a reserve forest.
There was a demand to build a car shed on alternate land in Kanjurmarg. However, the Bombay High Court in December 2020, put a stay on the construction at Kanjurmarg.
The BJP had argued that the decision to shift the car shed from Aarey would delay the construction of the underground metro project by four years and increase its cost.