Mumbai: Despite opposition from the Shiv Sena, the expert committee gave its nod to retaining the Metro car shed in the Aarey green belt. Under the Development Plan (DP) -2034, Aarey colony has been declared a green zone, except for the space reserved for the metro car shed. The Shiv Sena had opposed the proposal in a general body meeting in June last year. The discussion went on for 12 hours. The Congress and the MNS had supported the Sena on the issue.
The proposal was finally rejected: it polled 81 votes in favour and 117 against it. At the heart of this is the game of one-upmanship between alliance partners Shiv Sena and the BJP. So, when the Maharashtra government sent a proposal to the Improvements Committee of the BMC for changing the designated land use of 33 hectares of Aarey land for facilitating the car shed project, it was struck down by Anant (Bala) Nar, the president of the Improvements Committee and Shiv Sena corporator.