Small car depot for Mumbai Metro at Aarey Colony gets nod.

Despite strong opposition from activists and politicians, a small car depot for the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro will come up at Goregaon’s Aarey Colony, one of the city’s last remaining green lungs, affecting 446 trees.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently gave his assent to a report by an expert committee he constituted to find alternative sites for the car shed amid stringent opposition to its location at Aarey. The committee suggested integrating the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro and a proposed Metro along the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road and a comprehensive car depot at Kanjur Marg. The committee also recommended a small facility with about 16 stabling lines at Aarey Colony to cater to the immediate needs of the 33.5-km Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro.

As per the original plan, the entire car depot was to be located at Aarey Colony affecting 2,298 trees. Activists, environmentalists and politicians across parties objected, prompting Fadnavis to constitute a six-member technical committee. The committee comprised the MMRDA Commissioner, BMC Commissioner, principal secretary of the urban development department, director of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, director at NEERI and an IIT-Bombay professor.

THE INDIAN EXPRESS