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  Metros   Mumbai  21 Nov 2016  Realtors bank on Metro to sell homes in Aarey

Realtors bank on Metro to sell homes in Aarey

THE ASIAN AGE. | MEHUL R THAKKAR
Published : Nov 21, 2016, 3:44 am IST
Updated : Nov 21, 2016, 6:21 am IST

The state government has made it clear that a Metro car depot and station would come up in the colony.

Several NGOs are against the Metro car depot.
 Several NGOs are against the Metro car depot.

Mumbai: Builders selling projects in and around Aarey Milk Colony and Royal Palms have already started banking on the Metro-3 underground project to sell their ready-to-move-in apartments and villas with private pools. The state government has made it clear that a Metro car depot and station would come up in the colony.

A builder has started advertising his project, highlighting the fact that it is located a few minutes away from the proposed Metro station. However, the construction of a depot and station for the underground corridor, which starts from Colaba, was challenged by environmentalists in the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The environmentalists claimed that the state government was siding with builders who have unsold inventory and, in the process, was causing damage to the environment and wildlife inside Aarey Colony.

Royal Palms Estate has come out with advertisements saying that its project is located few minutes away from the proposed first station of the Metro-3 project at Aarey Colony where the prices of apartments and villas with private pools start from Rs 70 lakh and Rs 1.29 crore respectively. However, the joint managing director of Royal Palms Estate, Dilawar Nensey, has remained unavailable for comments.

The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has declared areas in a four-kilometre radius of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) as eco-sensitive zones. However, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC), the implementing agency of Metro-3, has claimed that it does not restrict construction within Aarey Colony and that its construction proposal is not within the area declared as eco-sensitive.

Stalin Dayanand of Vanashakti, the NGO that has filed the case in the NGT, said, “It is chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s statements giving the go ahead (for construction in Aarey Colony) that has encouraged builders to advertise their projects in such a manner. Also, the issue is already in the court and we will raise the matter in the next hearing of the NGT.”

Several NGOs have been protesting against the MMRC’s decision to build a Metro car depot in Aarey Colony.

Tags: aarey milk colony, devendra fadnavis, mumbai metro, national green tribunal
Location: India, Maharashtra, Mumbai (Bombay)