Plot notified in BKC for underground metro station

Mumbai: The dispute over the construction of a station of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train and the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) on the same plot of land at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) has not been resolved, but the state government has notified a separate piece of land in the area for a Metro station.

The urban development department (UDD) has issued a notification for a plot where the Vidyanagari station will be built.

The station falls on the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro corridor, which will comprise 27 key stations of which 26 will be underground. The Vidyanagari station is an underground station on the route. The notification has allotted an 809 square-metre plot in BKC of CTC no. 629 for the station. This plot was reserved for a social facility as per an earlier plan, which would be changed to the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited, an official from the UDD said.  The department has asked for suggestions and objections to this change of the reservation within a month’s time, the official added.  

Interestingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself will lay the foundation stone of the IFSC in September. The Railway Corporation had, however, claimed the same parcel of land for underground Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train station. But the IFSC requires underground space for parking. Also, the Maharashtra government is not aware of the planning being done for the bullet train on its territory. Sources in the urban development department admitted that there was a lack of coordination between the state government and the Centre machineries.

Land controversy

Following an announcement by the Railway Board that the bullet train terminal would be constructed at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), the chief minister’s office hurriedly ordered the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to float tenders for appointing design consultants for the construction of the IFSC on the 20 hectares of land that was reserved at BKC, while refusing to share land with Railways for the bullet train terminal. Later, the government agreed to share a plot allotted for the IFSC. However, nothing concrete has come up about sharing the plot from the Maharashtra government.