With a suburban train network that is over-stressed, over-saturated, and lacking lateral connectivity, Mumbai’s metro is a critical step in harnessing the financial capital’s traffic. However, Mumbai's tryst with the metro rail so far has been unimpressive, sluggish, uncertain and a matter of debate and political power play.
Metro 1 (Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar), an 11 km line of elevated corridor, took almost seven years to complete and saw costs escalating from the commissioned Rs. 2,356 crore to Rs. 4,300 crore. Though functional, it is dogged today by a legal battle over the issue of fare hikes.
Metro 2 (Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd), done on the Public Private Participation model, proved to be a disaster and was scrapped over the issue of using Coastal Regulation Zone land.
Metro 3 (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz), though in its infancy, is already entangled in a string of controversies, mainly ranging over environmental concerns over its impact on Mumbai’s green cover and the fears of people who will be displaced, including slum dwellers and the other residents of a predominantly Marathi area.
The fully-underground project faces fierce protests from environmentalists and residents who oppose the cutting down of 2,298 trees at Aarey Colony for the construction of a 30 hectare depot. Even after an elaborate project plan, the BJP-Sena government has been forced to constitute a committee to re-study its environmental effects. Unlike Delhi, which offers buffer zones of land, Mumbai faces a major space constraint and pressure to restore pavements and utility shifting on a larger scale.
Despite assurances to civil society, there have been serious doubts raised about whether the project would either meet the fate of Metro 2 or fail to meet its 2020 deadline. The State may have exhausted all other alternatives to shift the depot elsewhere, as Aarey Colony was picked after a detailed comparative analysis. The trust deficit between the State and the people is apparent.
