Mumbai citizens to approach government for underground Metro-II corridor

Sparks flew yesterday at a meeting between the MMRDA officials and residents of Juhu, Khar and Bandra opposing the elevated Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd metro corridor, when  MMRDA commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad made some sharp remarks that angered the activists.

The residents had sought the meeting in a bid to urge the development body to consider an underground metro instead of an elevated one.

Unable to resolve the issue both parties finally decided to approach the state government to urge the authorities to consider underground corridors instead of the elevated one.  The residents have teamed up to oppose the elevated metro project under implementation by the  MMRDA.

Municipal councilor Rahebar Khan and BJP corporator Ashish Shelar also attended the meeting.

During the meeting president of Juhu Citizens Welfare Hansel D'Souza along with activists Darryl D'Monte, Shyama Kulkarni and Nitin Killawala made a detailed presentation highlighting their concerns to metropolitan commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad and other MMRDA officials.

According to the residents , the cost of the Mumbai Metro project worked  out much higher than the cost of metro projects under planning in cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. ''  They contended that given the higher costs there was no reason why an underground metro corridor could not be built with some additional investment.