Mumbai Metro 3: Trial run to be held on 30 August
PremiumThe Metro line 3, which will be a 33.5 km underground route, will connect south Mumbai with the western suburbs.
The trial run for Mumbai Metro line 3 which routes Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ line will be conducted on 30 August. The trial will be held at Sariput Nagar in Nagar, news agency PTI has cited officials. The event will be attended by Maharashtra Chief minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis.
The Metro line 3, which will be a 33.5 km underground route, will connect south Mumbai with the western suburbs.
This will mark an important development in the realisation of the Metro track shrouded in controversy. The construction of Metro car shed at Aarey, a forested land adjoining the Sanjay Gandhi National Park was one of the first decisions reversed by the Shinde-Fadnavis government.
Meanwhile, Fadnavis had claimed that 25 percent of work of the Mumbai Metro car shed in Aarey Colony was completed after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had given his approval. While speaking in the Legislative Council, Fadnavis had averred that no more trees will be cut for the car shed project, and said he was ready to apologise for the sake of Mumbai's people if someone felt it was a crime to cut trees at night.
During Fadnavis's tenure as chief minister, his government's action of cutting trees in the leafy Aarey Colony at night after the court's nod for the car shed had come in for criticism. Thackeray, after he became chief minister in 2019, shifted the Metro car shed site to Kanjur as environmental groups were opposed to tree felling for the project in Aarey area.
After Thackeray came on board, the work began and 25 per cent work was done "when we (the Shiv Sena and BJP) were together (from 2014-2019)," Fadnavis said.
The present Eknath Shinde-led government has again shifted the car shed site to Aarey Colony.
Fadnavis assured that not a single tree will be cut for the car shed in future.
The decision to shift the car shed site to Aarey was not a matter of his government's “ego" but a step for the betterment of Mumbai, the BJP leader had said.
“If anyone feels we committed a crime by cutting trees at night, then I am even ready to apologise for the sake of Mumbaikars," he said.
Citing recommendations from different panels, Fadnavis said it would have taken four years for stabilisation of land in Kanjur as the area is marshy, entailing additional expenditure of ₹10,000 crore.
“For a car shed worth ₹400 crore, investment of ₹20,000 crore is lying dead. What will be the ramification of this? Ultimately the common man will have to face the burden in the form of ticket cost," he said.
Last month, former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had fervently appealed to the new government "not to stab Mumbai in its heart" by going ahead with the construction of the car shed at Aarey.
(With inputs from PTI)
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