Metro will save Aarey: MMRC chief

Ashwini Bhide, managing director, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited, says large-scale reforestation is planned for Aarey Colony, where hundreds of trees will be making way for a Metro car depot and station

January 21, 2017 11:16 pm | Updated 11:16 pm IST

Under pressure: MMRC managing director Ashwini Bhide is battling deadlines and green activists

Under pressure: MMRC managing director Ashwini Bhide is battling deadlines and green activists

Mumbai: The work for fully underground Metro 3 line that will connect the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ corridor has begun in full swing. Huge barricades put up across the city proudly announce that ‘Mumbai Is Changing’ and request Mumbaikars to bear with the inconvenience.

However, there are protests from several quarters, the strongest being from a section of residents and environmentalists to save Aarey Colony, where a car depot and a station are proposed.

There have been strong protests against the Aarey Colony car depot. Is there no alternative?

Without a depot, you cannot plan the Metro and work out the system. The depot is the fulcrum or the nerve centre. A car depot in Aarey had been planned at the very beginning. It was mentioned in the detailed project report in 2011, when MMRC was a part of MMRDA. After MMRDA wrote to the State government, 30 hectares of land was transferred to them in 2014. However, there were some notes of dissent about the environmental impact, and the State government decided to look at other options again in 2015. However, these options were already discussed and ruled out.

A committee under MMRDA had suggested the location be shifted to Kanjurmarg, provided land is made available within three months. The Kanjurmarg land was 10 km from SEEPZ, and the cost of extension cost had to be considered. It was also under litigation, and marshy. To make a depot-like structure on it would mean at least two years for filling and stabilising, so we ruled this option out in 2016. The committee had asked us to go back to Aarey if the Kanjurmarg option doesn’t work out. They also asked us to optimise land requirement and minimise damage to trees.

What is the project’s status?

Presently, we have stopped work on the car depot as the National Green Tribunal has ordered a status quo. However, the order was passed without an Eco-Sensitive Zone notification. The Central government has now come out with the ESZ notification and the car depot has been excluded from it. However, we cannot start work till the NGT changes its order. After the notification, the State government permitted us to go ahead with the work, and we have issued tenders for the same. We are also in the process of petitioning the NGT. Now there is no reason for the NGT to interfere.

How many trees will get affected? How will the green cover be replaced?

In all, 4,000 to 5,000 trees will have to be cut for the entire project, including for the Aarey car depot. The tree authority has asked us to transplant 50% of the trees, and plant double the remainder. So far, we have identified 14 hectares of land in Aarey for both purposes. We will need about 30 hectares, and some sites have been identified in Wadala and BKC as well.

The composition of trees on the car depot plot is was such that there is no biodiversity. The trees we plant will be of the native variety, which will help in generating new biodiversity. Also, these will not be saplings but grown trees, two to three metres in height . Much before this debate started, we had planted 500 trees in Aarey Colony.

What about properties that will be affected?

A social impact assessment survey showed that 2,800-odd commercial and residential structures will get affected. Of these, 2,100 are in slum areas and the others are legal tenants on private land, primarily from Girgaum and Kalbadevi areas. The rehabilitation sites are in Kurla and Chakala. We have already shifted around 700 families.

There are fears of flooding.

To build the Metro, we go deep down to access the bedrock. For example, when we go below the Mithi riverbed, we will reach the bedrock. Mumbai is the safest place for constructing a tunnel, as the bedrock is strong. Underground Metro railways have been constructed in soil too, like in Delhi. But Mumbai has basalt rock. At some sites it is high quality and in others it is fractured, but we still have rock. The tunnel depth is 20 to 25 metres. In London, the metro runs four to five levels below the Thames river. We will be using a 100-year-old technology and there will no issue of flooding or water seeping in. We may face problems during construction, since the water level is high.

It seems Metro stations won’t be directly connected to suburban railway stations on Western and Central Lines.

How will we connect? Suburban trains are moving at grade, Metro One is on an elevated corridor while our Metro line will be underground. There is no possibility for connectivity, except to have our stations close to key suburban stations.

We have not envisaged long subways just to connect stations, but our entries and exists will be close to those of existing suburban stations. Connectivity like in other countries is possible only with that kind of space, and if the entire city Metro is underground.

There is lot at stake, mainly for the environment.

This is a misconception. The Metro will save the environment rather than degrading it. Once fully commissioned, this project will reduce vehicle trips per day take off almost 6.5 lakh vehicle trips from the road per day. This means almost 2.5lakh litres of fuel saved daily. The levels of carbon dioxide in the air will go down. The benefits will be more than the damage that will caused by cutting the trees. Government has to take a larger perspective.

The environmentalists are right where they stand, but the government can’t reject a project that is necessary for the city. And this is a fact. If you dont have a Metro, the city will come to a standstill as there is no scope to expand road and rail networks. The government has to think of the long run. If at all, environmentalists and citizens should lend a helping hand to us in planting trees and dealing with other issues, instead of opposing the project.

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