Mumbai Metro II update

The demand by thousands of residents in the western suburbs, to make a part of the Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd Metro rail under ground, was denied by the chief minister-led apex body of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) on Monday. Chief minister Ashok Chavan formally cleared the Rs 8,250-crore Metro-II project as proposed by the MMRDA executive committee. Senior MMRDA officials said making a portion of the project underground would have added Rs 4,000 crore to the cost. It remains to be seen now if the residents, who want a 9- to 10-km stretch from Bandra to Andheri to be made underground, come good on their threat to file a PIL against the project. The project is likely to begin this month after a bhoomipujan by President Pratibha Patil and the deadline to finish it is 2013. Several resident associations and social organisations, led by engineers and architects from Bandra, Vile Parle, Juhu, Andheri and surrounding areas, had submitted underground designs and assured that they were feasible. A panel of architects, shopkeepers, educational institutions and activists had said the over-ground costs, in terms of environmental hazards, road widening and loss of livelihood, would be much higher. “An elevated Metro route will affect areas like JVPD, Linking Road and part of S V Road, where shops, residences and slums will have to be relocated. Trees will be uprooted and there’ll be more noise. Roads and pavements will be narrowed,’’ said a citizen. The Metro-II line will be 32km long, with 27 stations, all of them elevated. The residents want the Bandra-Andheri section to have 7 elevated station, while the approved plan has 8. Officials argued that it is technically easier to build an overhead Metro than one that’s both elevated and underground. Residents say arterial roads like Linking Road will get affected as the Metro line will take up much-needed space. They added that the disruption to families and commercial establishments, and the need to acquire land for an overhead route, would be equally high.