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In the wake of the Bombay High Court’s keep on the Mumbai Metro III car shed undertaking, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has requested officers to discover whether or not various areas can be found for its relocation.
Sources mentioned that one of many choices being examined is a state-owned land parcel within the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai, which has been earmarked for the Centre’s flagship Mumbai-Ahmedabad excessive velocity hall undertaking, popularly often known as the bullet prepare undertaking.
The BKC land, 67 acre in all, is the start line of the undertaking. About 10 acre have been earmarked for bullet prepare work.
A privately-owned 500-acre land sprawl – beforehand tagged as an eco-sensitive belt however reclassified in Mumbai’s new growth plan – in Goregaon’s Pahadi can also be being thought of. The earlier Devendra Fadnavis regime had proposed to order 221 acre of the identical land for a car shed by modifying the event plan, a ultimate nod to which remains to be pending.
On situation of anonymity, a senior Shiv Sena minister instructed The Indian Express, “The government’s legal advisors are studying the HC order and examining the option of challenging it in the Supreme Court. We are also exploring whether alternative locations are available. We are looking at the BKC land and the Pahadi land, among others.”
Sources mentioned that another state-owned land at Mumbai University’s Kalina campus, which was additionally examined up to now, can also be being explored.
Incidentally, the Pahadi land was one of many parcels examined by a high-level committee appointed by Thackeray and located to be economically unviable. The committee, headed by Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Manoj Saunik, had in its report submitted to the federal government in January, even suggested towards relocation of car shed to Kanjurmarg from Aarey Milk Colony the place it was being constructed through the earlier regime.
The committee, which had explored each the Kanjurmarg and the Pahadi choices amongst different alternate options, had cited technical and logistical hurdles, commissioning delays and value escalations to advocate that the relocation of the undertaking from Aarey was unviable.
With the in a single day felling of two,141 timber at Aarey for the car shed simply forward of Assembly polls in 2019 changing into a
political flashpoint between Shiv Sena and BJP, Thackeray had ignored the committee’s findings and introduced the relocation of the undertaking to a 102-acre land at Kanjurmarg, which is now caught in authorized dispute.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday stayed additional implementation of a Mumbai collector’s land allotment order dated October 1, transferring the Kanjurmarg land to the state-run Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for the undertaking, ordering a cease to all development actions on the website.
Admitting the Centre’s plea that the land in query was an erstwhile salt pan land, which belonged to it, and taking claims of two non-public events on file, the HC had additionally rapped the state forms for its “careless” strategy.
While the chief minister has requested the state Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni and the regulation division to advise him on the feasibility of difficult the HC order within the Supreme Court, sources mentioned he has concurrently requested officers to look for various websites for relocation, sensing the opportunity of a protracted authorized battle.
The court docket keep has led to additional uncertainty on the completion of the 33.5-km lengthy underground Metro line, which is already working delayed and has seen a pointy value escalation.
The HC order has additionally renewed the political slugfest between the 2 former allies. On Thursday, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut took a veiled dig on the BJP, labelling the HC order as
“unfortunate” and terming it as a “conspiracy to see that Maharashtra government is not allowed to carry out work in the interest of the people and development”.
Another Shiv Sena chief mentioned that it’s disappointing that the subsequent listening to within the case is scheduled solely in February, 2021.
On Wednesday, hours after the court docket delivered its verdict, Fadnavis had mentioned that they (the federal government) ought to put aside their ego and resume work on the Aarey website.
BJP’s Pravin Darekar, additionally the Leader of Opposition within the Legislative Council, on Thursday questioned Sena on its transfer to look at the BKC land. “They should not make it a vendetta issue,” he mentioned.
Sources, in the meantime, mentioned that Thackeray is miffed with some senior bureaucrats for inept dealing with of the matter.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
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