Alleged that state was yet to do DPR for shifting car shed out of Aarey
@hepzia
Mumbai: Devendra Fadnavis, former chief minister of Maharashtra, who had staunchly pushed for the Metro 3 car shed within Aarey, on Thursday, stated that pushing out the car shed from Aarey would delay the project, escalate project costs and result in corresponding hike in ticket prices for Mumbaikars.
Alleging that the entire exercise to declare 600 acres of Aarey as a forest was a motivated conspiracy to benefit vested interests, Fadnavis said on September 3 that shifting the Metro car shed out of Aarey would harm the feasibility of the project.
The Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly also stated that while the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led government had been talking of shifting the car shed out of Aarey, they were yet to even do a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the same. Pointing out to the fact that the allocation of the Metro car shed within Aarey had been ratified by the Bombay High Court, the National Green Tribunal and even the Supreme Court, the opposition leader claimed that demarcating the area as a forest would not be an easy process.
“Delineating a forest within Aarey is going to be a difficult process as there would be no continuity with so many structures like the New Zealand Hostel, the Adivasi Padas and even government property existing right within Aarey,” said Fadnavis. The former chief minister had earlier claimed that Aarey was not a forest and had come under much criticism for allowing cutting of over 2700 trees in Aarey to make way for the Metro car shed.
Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam also questioned the motive of the state on Aarey. Nirupam tweeted that declaring the area beyond Metro car shed area, as a forest was a conspiracy to retain the Metro car shed within the precincts of Aarey.
