26 March,2015 06:44 AM IST | | Dharmendra Jore
Twenty-two days after he first asked a committee of experts to find another location for constructing the Metro III car depot which was initially proposed to come up in Aarey Milk Colony Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis yesterday reiterated his government’s resolve to save this green space in the city
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis
With the Metro car depot threatening to displace as many as 2,298 trees in Aarey Colony, mid-day has been running a sustained campaign to save the city's green lung, following which many NGOs and political parties came forward to form pressure groups.
Fadnavis formed a panel of experts after his party's (BJP) delegation, led by Ashish Shelar, urged him to review the Metro plans earlier this month. The CM told the Upper House that the construction work of the depot had been stalled on the Aarey plot and that the authorities had been directed to stop felling trees there. He reassured the members that an experts' committee was working to find feasible alternative sites for the facility.
The panel consisting of MMRDA chief UPS Madan; Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte; Principal Secretary (urban development-1) Nitin Kareer; National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) Director Dr Rakesh Kumar; faculty of IIT-Bombay's Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering, Dr Rashmi Patil and Dr Ravi Sinha; ex-GM of Kolkata Metro G R Madan, and director of Delhi Metro Balvinder Kumar is expected to submit its report in April.
