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Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday asked the Centre and the state government to amicably resolve the dispute involving the 102-acre plot at Kanjurmarg, where the state government proposed to construct a Metro car shed and an interchange for various Metro corridors, as the delay was escalating costs and increasing burden on the state exchequer.

The centre, however, contended that in light of the reports prepared by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the under-secretary, Union Urban Development department, had written to the state secretary on March 17 asking him to reconsider the decision to shift the metro car shed from Aarey Colony to Kanjurmarg. The letter stated that as per the DMRC report it was technically not feasible to construct the car shed at Kanjurmarg.

The division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni was hearing the interim application filed by the project proponent Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) seeking vacation of December 16, 2020, stay by the HC on the decision of the Mumbai Suburban District Collector to transfer 102 acres of land to MMRDA to construct the Metro car shed.

In its application, MMRDA had sought permission to continue with the project as it was a public project of urgency and as work had already commenced it was willing to give the undertaking to provide all benefits and compensation to the owner and/or lessee under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act.

After additional solicitor general (ASG) Anil Singh for the centre cited the DMRC report and the letter of the under-secretary, the bench asked the state government to consider the letter and clarify its stand by June 10.

“Please forget past conflicts of opinion and try to make a new beginning. The everyday cost of the project is escalating. After all, it is people’s money,” said the bench, adding, “We know what is happening. We are all here to serve the public. Why bring personal differences to the court? Sort those outside the court.”

An intervention application filed by activist Zoru Bhathena also came up for hearing wherein he has pointed out that the plot identified by the state government for the Metro car shed at Kanjurmarg is neither a salt pan nor does it belong to the Central government, as claimed by it. The bench, however, did not show any inclination to hear issues raised by him and posted the matter for further hearing on June 10.

Meanwhile, the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) in its letter referred to reports conducted by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and SYSTRA, a consultant appointed by MMRDA, that point out technical difficulties in the daily operation of Metro 3 and 6 lines if the car depot if shifted to Kanjurmarg.

The MoHUA in its letter on March 17 said that it would not be a prudent decision to shift the location of the car shed when the project is in a significant advance stage and combined depot plans would bring operational and maintenance bottlenecks in the daily functioning.

“In this background and findings in the DMRC report, the GoM is requested to reconsider their decision to shift the Depot of Line 3 from Aarey Colony to Kanjurmarg. GoM is requested to allow the restart of the depot work of Line 3 at Aarey Colony for expeditious completion of the project of public interest with due exploration of possible optimization in the present plans of Depot at Aarey itself. The project is already inordinately delayed and it is expected that there will be further delays in the project if uncertainties continue. This project is much awaited to solve the traffic problem of Mumbaikars to a considerable extent,” states the letter written by Sunil Kumar, undersecretary, MoHUA.

(With inputs from Faisal Malik)

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