The Maharashtra Government has decided that it will shift the Metro rail car shed from Aarey in the western suburbs of Mumbai to eastern suburbs of Kanjumarg. The land is being provided free of charge to the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd at the new site, said Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday.
The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd is a JV of the Centre and Government of Maharashtra.
The metro rail car shed at Aarey was vehemently opposed by the environmentalists due to the presence of a large number of trees at the site. They took a view that it was a degraded forest, which needed to be saved. The previous Fadnavis government pushed ahead with its site selection, which led to a large of trees being felled. In 2019 the car shed at Aarey became a major election issue with a number of parties, including Shiv Sena opposing the site.
Thackeray said that at Aarey only a building costing about ₹100 crore has been constructed, which will be used for other purposes. Kanjurmarg site will be used for the car shed, which will serve line 3 and 6 of the metro corridor.
On August 22, 2014, the State Government handed over 30 hectares out of the total area of 1,287 hectares to the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation. Only 25 hectares area was supposed to utilize for the car depot, which constitutes less than 2 per cent of the total area of Aarey.