Sanjay Nirupam slams Maha govt over 'delay' in construction of metro lines

Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam on Monday demanded that the metro rail lines whose construction is not taken off yet be scrapped immediately, and attacked the Maharashtra government over the "slow pace" of the work.

Alleging delay, Nirupam said the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) had in 2016 claimed that the Metro line 2A, connecting Dahisar to Bandra through Mankhurd, will be ready by December 2019, but pushed the target to 2022 within six months.

"While 17 stations are to be constructed on this metro route, not a single station is visible so far," he told reporters.

Nirupam claimed the MMRDA had held a meeting under Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in November 2014 for underground construction of the entire 40-km Metro line 2.

"However, now the government has taken a U-turn and split Metro Line 2 into 2A and 2B, thus depriving residents of the north-western suburbs of the underground metro," he alleged.

The Congress leader said no public consultations were held for the elevated metro lines in suburbs unlike for every station in the island city for the underground Metro 3 line.

"Since Metro 3 (ColabaBandra-SEEPZ line) is underground, waterfronts of Marine Drive, Haji Ali and Worli sea face are not affected except the iconic Powai lake in the suburbs," he said.

Nirupam also attacked the MMRDA over its claim that the cost of constructing underground metros is three times higher than the cost of constructing elevated lines.

He said no progress was made in the metro works though roads are dug up and barricaded across the the city.

"All those metro lines which are not being constructed at all must be scrapped immediately," he said.

The Congress leader said the Congress will review the state of progress of the metro lines if voted to power in upcoming polls.

Meanwhile, Mumbai unit BJP president Ashish Shelar has criticised Nirupam over his claims on construction of metro lines.

"The decision to construct the elevated metro line was taken by the previous Congress regime. Is the Congress unsettled because the BJP government did not privatise the Metro?" he asked.

Shelar said the metro project work was expedited after the BJP came to power.

"In 2006, the Congress government privatised the metro and gave the construction work to Anil Ambani. On the contrary, the BJP government decided to go ahead with the expansion of the project at the government level," he said.