Mumbai: How a Metro station row became a Mexican standoff

Two days after MMRDArsquos plan to drop the National College station from the Metro Line 2B came to light residents claimed that the proposal to remove the station completely is absurd as they had only called for moving the station back to its original position They have now alleged that the decision to propose the dropping of the station was taken purportedly to create a divide within the group who had come together to oppose the ldquodiscreetrdquo shifting of the station from its original location and save the green spaceOur demand was never to scrap the National College station from the plan it was to shift the station back to where it was originally planned near Jeevan Kiran Bungalow and save Sadhu Vaswani Gardenrdquo said Zameer Palamkote joint chairman of Varde Marg Residentsrsquo Association on SV Road in BandraThe letter sent by the MMRDA to MLA Ashish ShelarActivist and environmentalist Zoru Bhathena who has been supporting the residents in the matter told midday ldquoCancelling the station is not the solution They could have saved the station or found out a way to spare the garden The station has come up in front of someones house thats not the fight There are only two issues here Move the staircase out of Sadhu Vaswani Garden which can be easily done Move station pillars if they are incorrectly located This can also be easily achieved Cancelling the entire station has never been the issue hereAlso read Mumbai MMRDA plans to drop National College station from Metro 2B planHe added ldquoThe MLArsquos claim of success in saving Sadhu Vaswani Garden due to cancelling of the station is totally illogicalrdquoAs part of its ongoing Metro 2B corridor MMRDA had changed the location of its National College station on SV road leaving residents and other stakeholders in for a shock Locals had alleged they were neither informed nor suggestions or objections were sought from them midday first covered the story on February 28 2023As per the earlier plan for the corridor there were supposed to be two stations in Bandra West Bandra which will be coming up near Lucky restaurant signal and National College was planned near Jeevan Kiran Bungalow opposite the Railway colony In February this year residents found out that the latter station was shifted backwards opposite Tata Blocks Parsi Colony starting from Grace Galaxy Hotel and extending up to the Maruti Auto Vista showroom on SV RoadSadhu Vaswani Garden at the junction of Linking Road and SV Road which would have been by the National College station on February 27 PicShadab KhanThe main concern of the residents was that Sadhu Vaswani Garden the only green space in the area was set to shrink by approximately 290 square metres as per MMRDAs plan to accommodate the entry and exit points of National College stationTata Blocks and SV Road residents through BJP MLA Ashish Shelar had approached the state authorities seeking shifting of National College Metro station from outside their residential area as well as Sadhu Vaswani Garden to about 100 metres towards the northAfter Shelarrsquos intervention MMRDA began working out a solution and thinking of options to save the garden The MMRDA has now submitted a proposal to the chief minister citing that deleting the station is the only option as shifting it back to its original location would not be feasibleIn a letter dated August 10 to Shelar MMRDA stated It was requested to shift the proposed National College station back to its original location that is opposite Western Railway Colony After going through various options shifting the station back to the original position is difficult In this regard a proposal for the deletion of the station has been submitted to the honourable chief minister and chairman of MMRDA for further directions After receipt of approval from the chief minister and Chairman the proposal will be put up in the authority meeting of MMRDA for final discussionThis has created a rift between residents of Bandra who have slammed the MLA for calling MMRDArsquos proposal a successful effort of hisDeyasini Choudhury architect and member of KharSantacruz civic group said ldquoShelar is doing a disservice to the students who would have benefited from this station The sewer line was initiated by the MLA which resulted in the shifting of the station and now he has gone on to cancel the station altogether This is a ridiculous decision Metro stations are planned within a onekilometre distance so saying this stop is just 800 metres from Bandra station is not an argumentrdquoShe added ldquoMMRDA planned not to have any structure within the garden so that the argument for cancelling is also gone This is to pander to a few residents of Tata Blocks The open space in the final design would not have been touched I had coordinated with the MMRDA and they had come up with suggestions that the garden wouldnrsquot have been touched This is a fight by Parsi colony people to avoid the station in front of their colonyrdquoMeanwhile Shelar on Monday took to X formerly Twitter and posted ldquoMy efforts taking into consideration the demands of Tata Block and the residents of the area have finally been successful The National College Metro station on the Metro 2B route has now been cancelled and Sadhu Vaswani Garden has been spared Heartfelt thanks to Honble Chief Minister mieknathshinde ji for accepting the demand considering the convenience of the citizens and the environmentX user Mehfooz Shaikh wrote ldquoThis shows that you are antidevelopment To please the people of Tata Blocks you have cancelled the Metro station and you claim that you were not aware of it when it was being shifted to a new location This is a big lie you will be taught a lesson in the upcoming elections sirrdquoMMRDA officials had told midday that moving the station back would be very tedious and involve substantial cost and claimed that the new location had many advantages Later various options were discussed with residents Its decision to abruptly scrap the station has irked activists ldquoEven this time they did not consult or discuss the matter with residents despite them being in touch with officials and engineersrdquo Bhathena saidAugust 10Day MMRDA wrote to Shelar290Area of garden that would be lost in sq m