The Bombay High Court on Wednesday, 16 December, put a stay order on the construction of a metro car shed project in Kanjurmarg, Mumbai, and asked the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to maintain status quo.
The high court halted the construction at the new site and asked the state government to wait for its orders.
Sources told ANI that the “102 acre land at Kanjurmarg comes under the salt commissioner who reports to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Government of India.”
The Maharashtra government is, meanwhile, ready to take back its 15 October 2020 land allotment to MMRDA. The Advocate General, Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, proposed a draft wherein the state will withdraw the allotment order only if status quo is maintained and salt testing is continued.
He said that the MMRDA will protect the land since reports of recent encroachment have come to light.
This proposal was opposed by Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, who appeared for the central government and questioned how the land will be protected by the MMRDA.
Reacting to the development, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said, “The High Court has ordered to stop the work of the metro car shed at Kanjurmarg; the order will be reviewed by us. The CM will talk to concerned officers and the Attorney General. After that, whatever necessary will be done.”
The MMRDA is developing the 14.5 km-long Metro Line 6 through Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on the land.
In November, the central government had asked for interim orders to put a stay on the stalling of the project. It further told the Maharashtra government to stop the MMRDA from proceeding with the construction.
Activists Protested To Save 2,700 Trees of Aarey Forest
The Chief Minister of Maharashtra had said in October 2020 that the metro rail project would be shifted to Kanjurmarg from Aarey Forests, after a controversy in October 2019 where hundreds of environmental activists protested over the cutting down of 2,700 trees for the shed.
Aarey Forest is often known as the ‘oxygen’ or ‘lungs’ of the city with over five lakh trees and is home to diverse species of birds and animals.
Maharashtra Government ‘Has Fallen Flat on Its Face’: BJP
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday reportedly said that the Uddhav Thackeray government has "fallen flat on its face" after the Bombay High Court’s stay order.
The intent behind Maharashtra government's attempt to transfer the metro car shed project to Kanjurmarg from Aarey Colony was to settle a political score with the BJP, party’s leader Atul Bhatkhalkar was quoted as saying by PTI.
State Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray was also asked to resign because of his insistence to shift the project to Kanjurmarg.
(With inputs from NDTV and ANI)
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