Construction in Aarey: Metro corporation to file intervention application with NGT for car depot : The Indian Express

The tribunal had recently directed the BMC not to issue no-objection certificate for construction.

The MMRC has proposed to construct a car depot at Aarey Colony in Goregaon for the 33.5-km Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro, touted to be the city’s costliest transport infrastructure project.

THE Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) will file an intervention application with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for building a Metro rail car depot in Aarey. NGT, in a recent order, had banned all constructions in the ecologically-sensitive area. The tribunal had recently directed the Brihanmumabi Municipal Corporation (BMC) not to issue no-objection certificate for construction within the eco-sensitive area in Aarey Colony. In May, the chief conservator of forests had sent a proposal to the Union environment ministry to increase the eco-sensitive area around Sanjay Gandhi National Park to a four-kilometre radius, covering 4,961 hectares, including Aarey Colony. The MMRC has proposed to construct a car depot at Aarey Colony in Goregaon for the 33.5-km Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro, touted to be the city’s costliest transport infrastructure project.

The NGT’s order is another setback for the project which is mired in impediments with environmentalists and activists opposing the car depot at Aarey Colony and stiff resistance from project-affected people. Ashwini Bhide, managing director, MMRC, said, “The NGT’s order is not final yet and it says that proponents of construction projects can file an intervention application. We will surely intervene. The government had given us land for the car depot much before this order. We had also sent our proposal to the Tree Authority.” In its order, NGT had directed the BMC, the director of Aarey Colony and the Chief Conservator of Forests to issue notices to all project proponents of any construction work and keep status quo till further orders were passed. The tribunal had also instructed them to direct all such project proponents to file an application for intervention with the NGT if any such construction activity was claimed to be legal or necessary. Bhide said that the construction of a car depot at Aarey would be legal as it had been reviewed and approved by the Union and state cabinets as per the legal framework. “We will present all these points to the NGT. Also, as per the revised plan, now, we will not need to cut as many trees as we had planned earlier,” Bhide added. The MMRC would have had to axe 2,298 trees in Aarey Colony as per the original plan, it will now need to cut 446 trees, as per the recommendations of a panel that was constituted by the chief minister. The committee had recommended constructing a car depot at Kanjurmarg, but also said that a double-deck depot at Aarey would be a viable option in case the state government was unable to free the Kanjurmarg land, currently under litigation.