Metro carshed row: Thackeray says 'not about my ego', Fadnavis retorts 'make cost public'

Commenting the fight with ex-ally BJP, Shiv Sena supremo and Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday, said that the tussle over the land in Kanjurmarg for the tentative Metro card shed can be 'resolved through dialogue', in his virtual address. Talking about the clash of egos, Thackeray said the land issue was not about his ego, but should not be BJP's either. With the Bombay High Court stalling the Metro work in Kanjurmarg, Thackeray has directed officials to explore shifting of Metro car shed from the proposed Kanjurmarg land to other sites which include the land set aside for the Centre's Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train.

BJP Vs MVA: Maharashtra govt mulls shifting metro car shed to bullet-train project site

Thackeray: 'Not about my ego, shouldn't be about yours' 

"We have all documents to prove that the land belongs to the state government. If there is a controversy over the ownership of land, the issue can be resolved through dialogue," Thackeray said adding, "Should the land be allowed to go because of ownership issues and should it be given to builders? The issue on Kanjurmarg land is not about my ego and it shouldn't be about yours too. We are ready to give credit for the project to the Centre if they resolve car shed land issue." 

Talking about the stalemate between the metro land in Kanjurmarg and bullet train in BKC, he added, "We did not create an obstruction. If you create problems in Kanjurmarg and we do in the BKC, creating problems in each others projects will serve no purpose". The Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor is PM Narendra Modi's pet project worth Rs 1.1 lakh crores, with Maharashtra only acquiring  22% of the required land for the project while Gujarat has acquired over 90% of the land.

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Fadnavis: 'BJP never fights for credit'

Retaliating to Thackeray, ex-CM Devendra Fadnavis said that the question was not about credit, but Mumbaikars' convenience. Demanding the government make the High committee report public, he pointed out how the Kanjurmarg land would cost extra for acquisition. He pointed out that 80% of the tunnelling work for Metro-3 was done, hence inspite of which land will be chosen, time and money was lost.

Bombay HC stays Metro car shed project in Kanjurmarg; asks MMRDA to maintain status quo

Bombay HC stays Metro car shed

On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court stayed the metro car shed project at Kanjurmarg, asking the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to maintain status quo. The Maharashtra Government has agreed to take back its October 15, 2020, order of land allotment to MMRDA for Metro car shed at Kanjurmarg, according to ANI. CM Uddhav Thackeray had ordered shifting the car shed for lines 3, 4, 4A and 6 to Kanjurmarg after declaring 800 acres of Aarey land near Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP)  as a 'forest', excluding constructions of all types of roads, slums, Adivasi pockets and government facilities.

Fadnavis 'exposes' MVA govt's Aarey carshed shifting; says 'project delayed by 4.5 yrs'

The Union Government had filed a petition in the High Court challenging the order passed by the Collector allotting the land for construction of the car shed, and said the land belongs to its (the Centre) salt department. The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government, however, opposed the plea and said the land, allotted to MMRDA for the Metro car shed, is owned by the state. Previously, the Fadnavis government had decided to construct the car shed, part of Mumbai Metro line 3, at Aarey Colony, but had stopped after the Supreme Court stayed tree-felling on the site.