Metro work to go on till midnight

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has permitted the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRCL) to continue work on Metro 3 in south Mumbai beyond 10 pm after MMRCL said that it was facing problems in clearing debris from the sites. The petitioner had complained to the HC that while work on drilling and excavating was as per court orders, trucks clearing debris were causing problem to the residents. MMRCL said that daily 150 trucks were employed to clear debris and if they were restricted work would get hampered.

A division bench comprising chief justice Dr Manjula Chellur and Justice M. S. Sonak was hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocate Robin Jaisingani complaining about the inconvenience caused to residents in the Churchgate area due to the Metro 3 work.

On Thursday, Jaisingani informed the court that MMRCL should be asked to curtail their activities and a time frame should be made between which the trucks could ply.  Responding to the complaint, the MMRCL counsel informed the court that as the work of clearing debris could not be undertaken during the day, it was done after office hours. Due to the large amount of debris, a large number of trucks were employed and clearing of debris took time.

The court told MMRCL that it could not continue working till the wee hours and had to formulate a system for clearing the debris. While allowing the work to continue till midnight, the court said that it was allowed only for three days.