Just days after his official swearing-in ceremony, Maharashtra's new chief minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis made the first big call, raising many eyebrows. In the first Cabinet meeting on June 30, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government's decision to shift the Metro 3 shed from Aarey, Mumbai, was overturned. The move was like rubbing salt on Uddhav Thackeray's wounds, as this entire project is close to his heart and was being supervised by his son and Yuva Sena president Aaditya Thackeray.
Metro 3 Shed Project Back In Aarey!
Directing urban development officials are set to bring the proposal for constructing the car shed before the Cabinet, per a First Post report. Furthermore, Fadnavis has stated that the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro project was delayed due to legal problems over the Kanjurmarg plot, where the former Maharashtra CM had proposed to shift the depot.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party's comeback in Maharashtra is also seen as revenge for Fadnavis, and this latest move on Aarey is also a significant one in more ways.
What's The Project And Why Is there A Controversy
The construction of the above-mentioned car shed for the underground Metro 3 rail project was initially proposed at Aarey, the 1,800-odd acres of green space in suburban Goregaon of Mumbai. However, this place is considered the last green lung of the city as well. Since 2014, there has been an ongoing tussle between the state government and environmentalists over the shed as a result.
Authorities from the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL), a joint venture between the Centre and the Maharashtra government, which is in charge of the project, cut down 2,656 trees in the location for the construction of the car shed in October 2019. The Tree Authority of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation authorised the cutting down of the trees. As a result, residents and green activists took out massive protests in several parts, who believed that Aarey needed to be saved in a concretised city like Mumbai. As per them, Aarey is also an extension of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, and the Metro shed might cause more commercial exploitation of the area.