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  Mumbai Metro-3 space allocation to be BJP acid test

Mumbai Metro-3 space allocation to be BJP acid test

AGE CORRESPONDENT
Published : Feb 14, 2016, 3:44 am IST
Updated : Feb 14, 2016, 3:44 am IST

The BJP will face an acid test, as the proposal for allotment of 17 spaces for the Mumbai Metro-3 project will be tabled for approval in the BMC general body meeting next week.

The BJP will face an acid test, as the proposal for allotment of 17 spaces for the Mumbai Metro-3 project will be tabled for approval in the BMC general body meeting next week. Stiff opposition from its alliance partner Shiv Sena has made the fate of this proposal uncertain.

Last month, the BJP, which is ruling the civic improvements committee, had passed the proposal to hand over 7,796 square metres of land spread across 17 different city locations on a permanent basis for the Metro-3 project. Though Sena and the MNS opposed the proposal vehemently, the BJP managed to approve the proposal with the support of Congress, the NCP and the Samajwadi Party.

However, things will not be so easy for the BJP in the civic house, as the Sena and MNS enjoy an upper hand with their superior strength. The proposal, if rejected, will be a big blow for the BJP, which is keen on expediting the Metro project. The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL), which is implementing the project, has demanded 17 plots from the civic body for building the 33.5-km Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro-3 line, which has 27 stations. The BMC’s proposal includes giving several prominent open spaces, gardens, parking lots, a fire brigade centre land and an arms depot for the construction of Metro-3 route. They will be used for construction of metro stations, inward-outward rooms, ventilation shafts, godowns-depots and TBM launching purposes.

BMC house leader Trishna Vishwasrao again made it clear that the party would oppose the proposal. “Our stand is clear. We will not support it unless the BMC comes clean on our doubts,” she said. MNS group leader Sandeep Deshpande also said that his party would continue to oppose the proposal for Metro-III project.

Congress had backed the proposal in the improvements committee reasoning that the project was first kickstarted in the city by them. Opposition leader Devendra Amberkar said, “If citizens and the municipal corporation are going to be benefited by the project, we will think of supporting it.”