Ahead of Maharashtra Assembly polls, PM to inaugrate 3 metro lines in Mumbai
Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Mumbai on Saturday morning, where he will lay foundation stones for three more metro corridors worth over Rs 19,000 crore on Saturday.
This comes ahead of the state assembly elections, which are due in Maharashtra in October. Modi will also perform bhoomipujan (ground-breaking) for the controversial Metro Bhavan in Aarey Colony area, considered to be the green lung of the city by the environmental activists.
Activists have slammed the Maharashtra government's decision to build the main carshed of the metro project and a casting yard in Aarey Colony, adjacent to Sanjay Gandhi National Park, which will require felling of thousands of trees.
The three metro projects -- all elevated lines -- that Modi will announce are 9.2-km Gaimukh-Shivaji Chowk (Mira Road) metro-10 corridor; 12.8-km Wadala-CST metro-11 corridor and 20.7-km Kalyan-Taloja metro-12 corridor.
The 32-storey Metro Bhavan, which will be the integrated operations and control centre for the proposed 14 metro lines in and around Mumbai, is proposed to be built on a 20,387 sq mt plot with a developable area of 1,14,088 sq mt within Aarey Colony.
The Metro Bhavan is expected to completed in 36 months, while the three metro lines are scheduled for completion by 2026.
Maharashtra government has decided to create a 337-km long metro network involving 14 lines across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) over four-five years, investing more than Rs 1 lakh crore.
