Maharashtra eyes Royal Palms for depot but activists cry foul

In view of the pressure from environmentalists and its alliance partner Shiv Sena and with the Centre declaring Aarey Colony an eco-sensitive zone, the state government is mulling to use the private plot at Royal Palms in Aarey Colony for constructing the car depot of Metro-3 Colaba-Seepz underground corridor.

The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), implementing agency of Metro-3 corridor in a statement on Thursday claimed, “The landlord had earlier offered a plot of 66 acres (26 Ha) of land for the car depot against compensation. The state is keen to avoid metro car depot construction in eco-sensitive zone. If the land offered by the owners of Royal Palms provides a feasible and viable option, the State Government will consider it within the framework of Development Plan and DC regulations.

The said plot is located about 2.5 km north of existing proposed Aarey Colony depot plot.

The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has declared areas in a four-kilometre radius of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) as eco-sensitive zones.

The 33.5-km Metro-3 corridor will be the first underground corridor in the city with 27 stations. According to the initial plan, the corridor will be ready by 2020. However, MMRC plans to complete the first phase of the project from Kanjurmarg to Seepz by 2018 for which the work was expected to start in the first quarter of 2016.

The MMRC’s statement further added, “MMRC has completed preliminary survey and technical evaluation of Royal Palm lands as alternative depot site for Engineering and operational feasibility. The above requirements will save the project funding/finances, affected trees and helpful in timely completion of the project.

Environmentalists, however, said that they are opposed to the state government’s plans to construct car depot in Royal Palms. “The said site of Royal Palms is also included in the draft of the MoEF which has declared areas in a four-kilometre radius of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) as eco-sensitive zones,” said D. Stalin, Vanashakti NGO.