Months after Aaditya demanded her removal, MVA Govt transfers Mumbai Metro 3 head

On Tuesday, bureaucrat Ashwini Bhide, the Managing Director of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRC), was transferred by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. She has been replaced by Ranjit Singh Deol. Heading the MMRC, the nodal agency for implementing the Mumbai Metro 3 project, Bhide was extremely vocal in defending the felling of trees for the construction of the Metro car shed in the Aarey area. Incidentally, State Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray had publicly demanded her transfer in September.  

Read: SC Restrains Maharashtra Govt & MMRDA From Cutting Trees For Metro Line 4 Project

The Mumbai Metro 3

The Mumbai Metro 3 project comprises a 33.5 km underground corridor running along the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ route. In total, there will be 27 stations out of which 26 will be underground. At present, nearly 74 per cent of the tunneling work has been completed.  

There has been a long dispute about the location of the Metro car shed. According to environmental activists, Aarey is a forest area and any construction work would hamper the ecological balance. On the other hand, Bhide often highlighted that the long-term gains of the project would offshoot the temporary damage caused due to the felling of trees.  

Read: Maha CM Thackeray's Big Announcement: Cases Against Aarey Activists To Be Withdrawn

'MMRCL's stand is against the citizens'

Addressing a press conference on September 10, Aaditya Thackeray had denounced the attitude of Bhide. He contended that the MMRC’s stand was against the people of Mumbai. Moreover, he alleged that Bhide had disrespected elected representatives and the citizens.  

Aaditya Thackeray remarked, "The concerned officer is not only disrespecting the elected representatives and citizens of Mumbai but her statements also seem to threaten the common man and the courts.” He added, "MMRCL's stand is against the citizens of Mumbai.”  

Read: 'Everyone Happy': Aaditya Thackeray Responds As CM Uddhav Halts Aarey Metro Car-shed Work

CM Uddhav orders stay on Metro car shed

As the Bombay High Court upheld the permission granted by the Brihanmumbai Mumbai Corporation’s (BMC) Tree Authority in October, over 2,185 trees were razed overnight. This led to a petition in the Supreme Court that ordered a freeze on the cutting of any more trees till further orders. Meanwhile, one of the first decisions of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Uddhav Thackeray was to stop the work of the Aarey metro car shed project. The Maharashtra CM asserted that a single leaf of Aarey would not be cut. The SC bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta is scheduled to hear the Aarey matter in January 2020.  

Read: 'Aarey Is Not Sena-BJP But Human-environment Tussle': Aditya Thackeray

(With PTI inputs)