With regard to the contentious Metro car shed project in Mumbai, former Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray made a request to the Eknath Shinde administration on Sunday.
Taking to Twitter, Aaditya said, "Since I have to attend the sitting of the State Legislative Assembly today, I will be missing out on the protest for Aarey Forest and the MMRCL land. I humbly urge new Govt to reconsider its decision. Don’t cast the hate for us, on to our beloved Mumbai."
This comes after Uddhav Thackeray, former chief minister, expressed his "great dissatisfaction" and asked the administration to keep the Metro car shed proposal in place.
According to Aaditya Thackeray, preserving the Aarey forest, often referred to as Mumbai's "green lung," meant more than just preserving its 2,700 trees. It also meant preserving Mumbai's biodiversity.
"There are daily sightings of leopards and other smaller species in the car shed spot and around it. We're proud of declaring more than 800 acres as forest around it," he said.
"Line 6 would anyway need a carshed, either at Kanjurmarg (which was originally thought of in 2018) or at Pahadi Goregaon. Having studied both, both are feasible for Line 3 too. Metros don’t go to carshed after every trip, they need stabilising lines, that are missing for Line 3," he added.
Aarey Metro Car Shed Dispute
The issue began in 2019 when the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for permission to cut down trees in Aarey Colony. This led to widespread protests by environmental activists in Mumbai.
Then-CM Fadnavis said that the location chosen for the Metro vehicle shed was not classified as biodiversity or forest land and added that the Metro will lessen carbon footprint as protestors intensified their demonstrations.
As a result of activist protests, the new administration chose to relocate the Metro vehicle shed to Kanjurmarg.
After that, the BJP-led central government went to the Bombay High Court in 2020 and claimed the land belonged to its Salt department. A stay was then given by the High Court. The project has since been in a limbo.
Even while they were the BJP's allies, the Shiv Sena has been opposing the idea to construct the shed in Aarey.
BJP leader Kirit Somaiya tweeted shortly after Eknath Shinde's action that it will put the Mumbai Metro project back on track.