The Maharashtra government on Thursday lifted the stay order on the construction of the Mumbai Metro Line 3 car shed at Aarey Colony, making provisions to resume building the controversial shed in the area soon. The stay order was issued by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on assuming office in November 2019.
The move effectively reverses the previous government’s decision, which moved the proposed Mumbai Metro Line 3 shed from Aarey forest to Kanjurmarg in 2020 following huge protests by concerned citizens and environmentalists.
The plan to construct a metro car shed in the Aarey forest has been on the cards for almost a decade. Aarey is a forested patch in Mumbai and was once connected to the adjoining Sanjay Gandhi National Park, a media report quoted wildlife biologist Anand Pendharkar as saying. Some parts of Aarey were declared an ecosensitive zone of the Park in 2016.
The situation escalated in October 2019 when the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL), under the then Devendra Fadnavis-led government, cut down more than 2,000 trees in the area for constructing the car shed. Citizens took to the streets to protest, and filed petitions in the Bombay high court and in the Supreme Court to contest the move to build the metro shed in Aarey.
Taking note of the widespread protests, the Thackeray government in 2020 decided to move the station from Aarey to the predominantly marshy, salt pan area of Kanjurmarg, also within the city premises.
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