Underground metro a must, insist citizens

Mumbai Citizens groups from the western suburbs will make a last ditch effort for an underground metro by approaching the state government to mobilize funds for the Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd ine. This decision was made by a group called 'Movement for An Underground Metro' , which comprised 21 organizations from Bandra to Ghatkopar, after a stormy session with metropolitan commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad, on Tuesday at the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) office in Bandra. Citizens made a presentation by drawing a comparison of metro rail cost of other cities such as Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad . Hansel D'Souza , president of Juhu Citizens' Welfare Group, said citizens would end up paying three times more than any other city in the country for the elevated metro rail. "We will pay for an underground metro but, instead, get an elevated metro rail. In Mumbai, we are paying Rs 354 crore per km. If we compare the cost with that of Hyderabad, it is Rs 171 crore per km, for Bangalore, it is Rs 80 crore per km and for Chennai, Rs 100 crore per km for an elevated metro rail. We have got this figure from the Reliance Infra website from their media release," he said. Daryl D'Monte , Shyama Kulkarni, Sherley Singh, Nitin Killawala and Kunickaa Lal were also a part of the discussion with corporators Ashish Shelar and Rehbar Khan. "Feasibility in terms of money is an issue which can be resolved. If one prioritizes on decongesting Mumbai, elevated metro is not the answer . On the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor, MMRDA has made mistakes. They should learn from the mistakes and even project-affected people should be rehabilitated phase-wise ," said Kunickaa Lal of Andheri-Versova Residents' Welfare Association.

The discussion took a heated turn when Gaikwad said, "Juhu residents are only interested in their privacy. They are not concerned about the poor. According to the railways report, roughly 10 people die everyday on suburban railway tracks." Shelar intervened and a decision was arrived at, when he said, "I will initiate dialogue between the citizens and the state government to tackle the financial feasibility for the underground Metro-II line. We need a reply from the MMRDA commissioner in the form of an affidavit to the PIL filed by residents in the Bombay high court that an underground metro is an ideal solution for the suburbs. We do not want any more land acquisitions from citizens or any 'dishousing' of buildings for this project . Also, ensure that if there is a more viability gap funding , the remedy shouldn't be in the form of levying extra taxes to citizens." He also said that since MMRDA needs an extra Rs 56,000 crore for all the nine corridors, MMRDA should make two on a priority basis to lessen the burden of economics. Source:The Times of India.