The decision to shift Metro car shed out of Aarey forest to Kanjurmarg will be regarded as one of the historic decisions taken by any government in recent times towards protecting and nurturing the environment which is the need of the hour in times of global climate crisis. The decision is also historic as it sets an example for future governments on how to ensure sustainable development by conserving and protecting the natural resources while carrying out infrastructure development. Shifting a highly polluting car shed out of Aarey Forest which harbours 436 species of wildlife including 9 residing leopards to Kanjurmarg which is a barren land is accepted as the most sensible decision by general common sense. How can such a historic decision that signals the victory of democracy be opposed and called anti-development?
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday, 11 October, announced addressing a webcast that the metro car shed will be shifted from Aarey Colony to Kanjurmarg in Mumbai. While the news brought hope and excitement within the masses, opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis termed the decision as “unfortunate” and “driven by ego”. There have been allegations of time and cost escalations levied at the most hopeful of all decisions of recent times.
Allegation 1:
₹400 crores were already spent for Car shed in Aarey will go in waste.
Fact:
The entire Metro car shed tender is of 340 crores which is available on MMRCL site. Moreover, not even 15-20% work is done at the Metro car shed plot. So where is the question of spending Rs. 400 crores arise?
https://twitter.com/shilpajn/status/1315980310689927168
Allegation 2:
₹1300 crore wasted due to staying of project
Fact:
The expert committee consisting of 6 members team- 4 bureaucrats and 2 environmental scientists- Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Director of the CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) and Dr. Shah Masulekar, renowned IIT Professor has submitted their report to the government on 12th June 2015 which states that "We sincerely believe that Kanjur Marg and Back Bay sites should be evaluated. The Aarey land is certainly not suitable due to its ecological significance." In 2015, the former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ government already knew about the large environmental implications of building a Metro car shed inside Aarey forest. If the previous government had paid heed to the expert committee’s report way back in 2015, there wouldn’t have been the loss of money, resources, time (of petitioners, activists, and citizens trying to protect the forest from concretization). It is not the environmentalists’ opposition but bureaucratic myopia towards sustainable development and greed to usurp forest land for commercial development that has delayed the project. Moreover, there is no documents or proof at how this 1300 crore figure has arrived.
Please click the link to find the proof of the documents: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158808863632892&set=a.10152424835297892&type=3&theater
Allegation 3:
The Kanjurmarg land is disputed land and under litigation. If this land has to be acquired then thousands of crore will have to be spent.
Fact:
The total land is 650 hectares. Out of which, 270 ha is disputed despite records being in Government's name. The balance 370 ha is the Government's land barren. The land records even today stand in the name of Maharashtra Government. The need to spend some thousands of crores as a cost to acquire land at Kanjurmarg is a big lie.
If the land is under litigation then even Metro 6 car shed work should not be progressing on it. But the work on Metro 6 car shed is progressing smoothly then why can't that on Metro 3 car shed?
Please click on the link below for the proof of the documents:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158806450927892&set=a.10150294213672892&type=3&theater
Allegation 4:
Shifting metro shed from Aarey to Kanjurmarg will hike project cost By Rs 4000 Cr
Fact:
Shifting the Metro 3 car shed to Kanjurmarg could actually save the government money. The Metro-6 line, running from Lokhandwala Complex to Vikhroli and the underground Metro-3 line are intersecting at SEEPZ and the car shed for Metro-6 is being built on the same land at Kanjurmarg. This shows there is no need for laying an additional line.
The Government said that they can integrate the Metro 6 and Metro 3 lines and take the bogies to Kanjurmarg to the Hon'ble High Court of Bombay by the Maharashtra Govt seeking Kanjurmarg land for the Metro car shed.
Again how Rs. 4000 crore figure is arrived is unsupported. Last year, Ex-Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Ex-Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi quoted the same cost as Rs. 5000 crore.
Please click on the link below for the proof of the documents:
https://www.facebook.com/indian.stalin/posts/10158820135107892
Allegation 5:
If at all Kanjurmarg land were available, it would take three years to just develop it as some of it is marshy.
Fact:
Soil testing began on October 11 and just after digging two metres of depth of the land, rocks are found. The land is not marshy.
https://www.freepressjournal.in/mumbai/soil-testing-at-kanjurmarg-metro-car-shed-land-begins
Before making such baseless and unsupported claims of loss of taxpayers’ money, has the opposition ever considered looking at the environmental and socio-economic loss to the city if the Metro car shed was not shifted out of Aarey forest:
1. Loss of clean air
Ideal tree: human ratio is 7-8 trees per person. In Mumbai, we have 1 tree between 4 persons. When this dangerous ratio requires an urgent increase in green cover, losing even a single tree especially in a forest area is unaffordable.
2. Socio-economic loss
The ‘socio-economic’ value of a tree is Rs 23.72 lakh a year, accordingly loosing 2702 trees as proposed during the development of car shed would mean losing a staggering Rs. 642 crore loss a year. If we go by the average that a healthy tree can provide oxygen for 30 years, the loss would escalate to Rs 22,000 crore.
3. Loss of civilizations and cultures
The project affects over 27 tribal hamlets & is likely to directly affect over 2,000 indigenous tribal families that have been living here since generations.
4. Loss of Mithi river floodplain
Metro 3 Car Shed site at Aarey is floodplains of the Mithi River. Concretisation of floodplains by building car shed will increase the chances of flooding in already flood-prone Mumbai.
5. Loss of biological corridor for wildlife
There have been several incidents of leopards spotting reported in the area where the metro car shed is proposed. This area acts as a biological corridor for the wildlife that aarey forest is nurturing.
In times when the world is committing towards protecting environment and fighting global warming, opposition led by Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra shamelessly argues in favor of destroying a city’s only surviving forest under the pretext of preventing deaths due to overcrowded local trains and time and cost escalations!! Air pollution has cost an estimated 18,000 deaths in Mumbai in 2020. Air pollution also cost approximately $2,500,000,000 USD in Mumbai in 2020. A study conducted by the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and leading accounting company KPMG has revealed that Mumbai incurred a loss of Rs 14,000 crore due to floods. The hefty amount was lost in the period between 2005 and 2015. The site where the car shed was being built is Mithi river floodplains. By shifting the car shed out of Aarey forest, the government has ensured that Mumbai doesn’t lose its important floodplains to concretization. The government has ensured that city gets its much coveted fresh air from the forest that maintains good air quality index of the city.
One major key factor that has contributed to the emergence of COVID 19 virus has been attributed to deforestation and the destruction of natural ecosystems. The coronavirus outbreak has caused losses to the tune of Rs 30.3 lakh crore to the national economy. State-wise analysis indicates that top 10 states accounted for 75 per cent of total GDP loss with Maharashtra contributing 15.6 per cent of total loss. Despite suffering such huge economic loss, it is unfortunate that our politicians still continue to overshadow environmental impacts and continue to oppose policies and decisions that promote sustainable development and environmental prosperity.
References:
https://www.futurelearn.com/info/blog/deforestation-and-covid-19 https://www.iqair.com/us/india/maharashtra/mumbai https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/mumbai-lost-rs-14000-cr-to-floods-between-2005-and-2015-study-4425241.html