Mumbai: Bandra garden to lose 290 sq mt for Metro station

The Sadhu Vaswani Garden the only green space on Bandrarsquos SV Road will shrink by around 290 sq metres to facilitate the entry and exit to Metro 2B corridorrsquos National College station MMRDA has clarified in its reply to midday In a huge setback to local residents MMRDA also said that the station will not be shifted back Justifying their decision MMRDA officials said shifting the station back would be very tedious and involve substantial costMidDay had reported how as per the earlier plan for the Metro 2B corridor there are to be two stations in Bandra Westmdash Bandra near the Lucky restaurant signal and National College near Jivan Kiran Bungalow opposite the Railway Colony According to residents the National College station was shifted opposite Tata Blocks starting from Grace Galaxy hotel and extending to the Maruti Auto Vista showroom on SV RoadSadhu Vaswani Udyan at the junction of Linking Road and SV Road PicShadab KhanLocals had alleged that the decision to move the station was made discreetly without informing stakeholders They also claimed that they were neither informed nor were their suggestions or objections sought midday had sent questions to the MMRDA regarding residentsrsquo concerns last week and their official reply arrived on Wednesday MMRDArsquos reply comes after residents claim they were assured by its engineers that the entryexit wouldnrsquot eat up the garden space and would instead be constructed on the opposite side of the garden The number of trees to be affected to facilitate the station is 39 said the statement from MMRDAPashin Katpitia president Bandra Tata Blocks Welfare Association said ldquoWe were told that after the chief ministerrsquos remark to look into the matter MMRDA has submitted the details to his office and now the shifting or scrapping of the station will happen only if they get directions from the CMO We have sought a meeting with local MLA Ashish Shelar on this matterrdquoAlso Read Mumbai lsquoMMRDA has to shift Bandras metro station bear costs as per CMrsquos diktatrsquolsquoWhy we shifted the stationrsquoIn the reply to midday MMRDA officials have said ldquoAs per the Detailed Project Report DPR of Metro Line2B the National College Metro station was planned opposite Western Railway Employees Colony old location on SV Road In November 2019 Chief Engineer Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project MSDP BMC informed MMRDA about a 32m diameter sewer tunnel work on SV Road from Jay Bharat Society to Bandra Pumping Station It was observed that the National College Metro station foundations are infringing on the proposed MSDP sewer tunnel of BMC for a length of about 200m As requested by BMC and after considering all aspects MMRDA agreed to shift the National College metro station towards Bandra Railway station in October 2020 to ensure the coexistence of both metro station foundations and the sewer tunnelrdquoPashin Katpitia president Bandra Tata Blocks Welfare Association says they have sought a meeting with local MLA Ashish Shelar PicSatej ShindeClaiming there are many advantages to shifting the station to the new location MMRDA officials said ldquoThe Right of Way at old location of the Metro station was 2324m but at the new location it is 24348m At the old location due to the narrow road width the entryexit structures of the Metro station might have obstructed the residential building gates The new location is at the higher road top level Also the new location is at a better junction connecting major roads like Linking Road Turner Road and SV RoadrdquoldquoAfter shifting the entryexit No 2 of the National College Station is planned on the edge of Sadhu Vaswani Udyan The entryexit structure requires 290 sq metre area from the 1700 sqm area of Sadhu Vaswani Garden Of the 39 affected trees 13 are proposed to be cut and 26 proposed to be transplanted The residents of Tata blocks visited the MMRDA office regarding the shifting of National College Metro station All relevant information was given to them during the visitrdquo MMRDA officials addedlsquoThey are misleading usrsquoldquoOn our visit to the MMRDA office engineer Shrikant Jadhav said the entryexit will not be at Sadhu Vaswani Garden It will be on the opposite side and at the corner of SV Road and Linking Road Another entryexit will be on the Gaiety Galaxy lane and other side He also mentioned that they would do this to protect the garden And now we hear this First we were not informed about it now they are misleading usrdquo said one of the residents of Tata BlocksKatpitia added ldquoIf 290 sq mtrs area is acquired the garden will be thrown open for commuters to navigate The crowd will spillover on the remaining garden space Then there will be hawkers miscreants too will get open access to the garden Besides what is the success rate of transplanted trees That the garden wonrsquot be affected was just false assurance given to usrdquoThe sewer tunnel work of BMC was completed in December 2022 As per sources BMC had advised to shift the station by 108 metres but the MMRDA shifted it by 289 metres Citing that shifting of the station back now will be very tedious and would incur losses MMRDA officials said ldquoIn case the National College Metro station is to be shifted back to the earlier location then some length of the sewer tunnel will have to be shifted Also it would involve removal of 13 Ugirders dismantling of 15 piers 10 pier caps and construction of pier foundations at the new location would be tedious This will involve substantial costsrdquoOutraged residents of Tata Blocks Parsi residential colony and other stakeholders on SV Road had sought an explanation multiple times from MMRDA over the decision but received no reply ldquoIn spite of a number of written objections to MMRDA discreetly shifting the metro station to the Bandra HP Junction MMRDA has neither bothered to reply to them nor have they bothered to officially disclose exactly what they intend to do It is unfortunate that the affected citizens were kept in the dark We once again seek the aid of MLA Shelar and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in the matter and sincerely urge them to intervene on behalf of the citizensrdquo said Zameer Palamkote joint chairman of Varde Marg Residentsrsquo Association on Bandra S V Road108 mThe original distance that the BMC had advised MMRDA to shift the Metro station by