Metro car shed land issue can be resolved via dialogue, Kanjur Marg will serve for 100 years: Uddhav

Strongly defending the shifting of the Mumbai Metro car shed from Aarey Milk Colony to Kanjur Marg, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the new site will serve more lines and will last for 50 to 100 years.

Thackeray invited the opposition BJP to sit across the table and resolve issues in public interest.

“Derailing each other's projects would serve no purpose…the Kanjur Marg dispute is not in the interest of citizens. I am ready to give credit to the opposition (BJP) or give credit for the resolution of dispute…this is not an ego issue for me as being described,” he said.

The car shed at Aarey was meant for only Metro Line 3 (Colaba - Bandra–SEEPZ).

However, the Kanjur Marg site will have cars hed for three lines – Metro Line 3 (Colaba - Bandra – SEEPZ), Metro Line 4 (Wadala–Ghatkopar-Mulund–Teen Hath Naka–Kasarvadavali) and Metro Line 6 (Lokhandwala-Jogeshwari-Kanjur Marg). Besides, it would be a junction point for Metro Line 14 (Kanjurmarg-Badlapur).

He said that by shifting the car shed from Aarey, the state saved a forest and the environment. “The Aarey site for Metro Line 3 carshed was scrapped as more land would have been required in future at the cost of the forest,” he said, adding: "The Kanjur Marg site will serve for 50 to 100 years."

“It is so unfortunate that the Salt Commissioner approached the Bombay High Court…but why?...The Maharashtra government gave a costly plot (at Bandra-Kurla Complex) for the bullet train project…I have met those opposing bullet trains and Vadhavan port. Dispute can be resolved if the Centre and state sits together,” he said.

Thackeray’s statement during a webcast came just ahead of his tour to inspect the ongoing Mumbai metro projects.