Mumbai: A day after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis batted for a metro rail car shed in the metropolis’ Aarey area, principal ally Shiv Sena’s chief Uddhav Thackeray has warned the plan could end up like the aborted Nanar refinery in the Konkan region.
Uddhav’s assertion has the potential to further widen the chasm between the two saffron parties which are hassling over the number of seats to contest the assembly elections, due next month.
The car shed plan for Metro 3 (Colaba—Bandra—Seepz) line is in the midst of an acrimonious debate as the work will see the felling of over 2600 trees in the Aarey area, considered among the city’s prime green lungs.
Responding to a question on the car shed, Thackeray said, “It will meet the fate of the Nanar oil refinery”.
Incidentally, Thackeray’s son and Yuva Sena head Aaditya Thackeray has been vocal in his opposition to the metro plan.
A proposed Rs 3 lakh crore refinery in Nanar in the state’s Ratnagiri district had to be scrapped after the Sena put up a stiff resistance.
In March this year, the state government scrapped a notification issued in May 2017 to acquire 5,932 hectares of land across 14 villages in Ratnagiri district and two villages in Sindhudurg district for the refinery.
Fadnavis said the Supreme Court Sunday had clarified that the (Aarey) land did not come under forest or bio-diversity. “So the state government, by adhering to orders passed by the apex court, is working on the (metro car shed) project,” he had said.
Environmentalists and activists are also opposing the metro car shed project and have been demanding its relocation.