How government changed track on Mumbai Metro car shed – Times of India

MUMBAI: Barely months before the Centre opposed the state’s bid to shift the Metro car shed to Kanjurmarg, the Union ministry of commerce may have been preparing to hand over the same plot for the Metro 6 depot.
In a letter dated July 31, 2020, under secretary P K Pattnaik wrote to the salt commissioner: “You are requested to conduct joint survey and submit joint survey report within one week (along with revised market value of the land, if there is any change in the area of the land after joint survey), so as to enable this department to prepare the proposed cabinet note.”
The subject of Pattnaik’s letter was “Transfer of 43.76 hectares of Salt Department’s land under CTS No 657A & 853 of Kanjur Village to Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for construction of car depot for Mumbai Metro Line 6.’’ On November 1, 2019, MMRDA commissioner R A Rajeev had written to the ministry saying MMRDA was ready to accept the Kanjurmarg land on “as is, where is’’ basis. But it was when the Maha Vikas Aghadi government unilaterally decided to shift the Metro 3 car shed from Aarey to Kanjurmarg that the Centre objected.
“The Kanjur plot was always to be used for the Metro 6-line depot. It is only when the suggestion came to move the Aarey Depot to Kanjur that a bogey of litigation was created where there was none,’’ said activist Zoru Bhathena.
“The previous state government had started Metro 6 project in 2016 with the depot in Kanjurmarg, for which all agencies including the salt department had agreed. Unfortunately, in 2020, these same departments approached the court to stop the land from being acquired,’’ he added.
The Union ministry of housing and urban affairs red-flagged the state’s decision to have a common car shed at Kanjurmarg in a letter dated December 1, 2020. Secretary of the ministry, Durga Shanker Mishra, wrote to state chief secretary, Sanjay Kumar: “…the way integration of Line-3 and Line-6 is being planned may create huge operational difficulties for both the metro lines within 5-7 years after commencement of their operation. This is not desirable for a cost intensive project like metro,’’ it said.
“Line 3 is in the advanced stage of construction with 90% of tunnelling work and 60% of station work completed,’’ said Mishra to the chief secretary.
The letter said that a 2015 committee constituted by the government of Maharashtra had considered the possibility of a shed at Kanjurmarg for Line-3. It had also recommended extending it by 7.5 kms from Aarey up to Kanjurmarg by developing this extended section as a natural part of Line-3.
Mishra recommended that the state government conduct a techno-economic feasibility of proposed shifting of the depot before going for a detailed project report as has been presently decided by GoM.
Last month, in a major setback to the MVA government, the Bombay high court stayed the suburban Mumbai collector’s October 1 order, transferring the 102-acre Kanjurmarg plot for the metro car shed. The court also halted all on-going work at the site.
The Centre through its salt department, claiming ownership of the Kanjurmarg land, filed a petition to challenge the collector’s order transferring the land to MMRDA and also a 2018 order of the Maharashtra revenue minister declaring the state as owner of various salt pan lands and declaring some to be privately held, in Mumbai.