Narendra Modi in Mumbai today: PM to lay foundation stones for three metro corridors, perform 'bhoomipujan' for Aarey project

Mumbai: Ahead of the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay foundation stones for three more metro corridors in the megapolis worth over Rs 19,000 crore on Saturday. During the visit, Modi will also perform bhoomipujan for the controversial Metro Bhavan at the Aarey Colony, a major green lung of the city. It can be noted that the entire metro project has attracted lots of criticism from environmentalists and activists following the state’s decision to build the main metro carshed and the casting yard which will lead to felling of tens of thousands of trees at the green lung, which is an extension of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in the northern side of the city. [caption id=“attachment_7134121” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] Environmentalists and activists have been out on the city streets seeking to shelve these plans earlier this week. The three metro projects — all elevated lines — that Modi will announce are the 9.2-kilometre Gaimukh-Shivaji Chowk (Mira Road) metro-10 corridor; the 12.8-kilometre Wadala-CST metro-11 corridor; and the 20.7-kilometre Kalyan-Taloja metro-12 corridor. The 32-storey Metro Bhavan, which will be the integrated operations and control centre for the proposed 14 metro lines in and around Mumbai, is proposed to be built on a 20,387-square-metre plot with a developable area of 1,14,088 sqmt within the Aarey Colony. Of the total developable area, the Metro Bhavan will consume 24,293 square metres of the forest land. The metro training institute will come up on 9,624 square metres and another 80,171 square metres of the green cover will be consumed for various other metro-related space. The Metro Bhavan is expected to completed in 36 months, while the three metro lines are scheduled for completion by 2026. Besides these, Modi will also inaugurate the first metro coach manufactured by the state-run Bharat Earth Movers at its Bengaluru facility in flat 75 days. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has ordered for over 500 such coaches for the first few lines of the metro including the Dahisar-DN Nagar metro-2A and Andheri (East)-Dahisar (East) metro-7 corridors, which will be completed soon. Maharashtra has decided to create a 337-kilometre-long metro network involving 14 lines across the MMR over four to five years, investing more than Rs 1 lakh crore. Of these, civil works on six corridors — the Dahisar-DN Nagar metro-2A corridor, DN Nagar-Mandale metro-2B corridor, Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ metro-3 corridor, Wadala-Kasarvadavli metro-4 corridor, Swami Samarth Nagar-Vikhroli metro-6 corridor and Andheri (East) to Dahisar (East) metro-7 corridor — have already begun. “This 139-kilometre metro network promises to carry over 50 lakh commuters every day. And now, we are undertaking 42.6 kilometres of additional metro work with three more corridors,” MMRDA said in a statement. It may be noted that while the suburban rail network, which daily ferry 80 lakh passengers, came to a standstill after heavy rains lashed the megapolis thrice during the ongoing monsoon season due to water-logging on the tracks, the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar metro line 1 operated smoothly as it is on elevated tracks. The prime minister will also inaugurate the Bandongri metro station on the Andheri (East)-Dahisar (East) metro-7. Later on Saturday, Modi will also visit Aurangabad and dedicate the AURIC (Aurangabad industrial city) Shendra project and inaugurate an AURIC hall. He will also address a state-level women’s self help groups being organized by Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission. AURIC is one of the country’s well-planned, greenfield and smart industrial cities which is being developed over an area of 10,000 acre and is a part of the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, which will help the economy of the backward Marathawada region. Modi’s plan to inaugurate an 11-kilometre Nagpur metro line on Saturday, has been cancelled to due to heavy rain forecast. A statement from by Maha Metro, the implementing authority for the Nagpur metro, said, “due to heavy rain forecast, prime minister’s visit to Nagpur has been cancelled.”