Mumbai: At exactly 3 pm on Friday, amidst loud cheers and sloganeering by excited passengers, woman train operator Aditi Padyar commenced the first journey of Line 1 of Metro Navi Mumbai from Belapur to Pendhar.
“I am one of three women operators for the Navi Mumbai metro and have undergone months of rigorous training including many trial runs. Prior to this, I was operating the Monorail for two years,” said Padayar.
Services of the Navi Mumbai metro commenced in the presence of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation Municipal Commissioner Rajesh Narvekar. Like most other commuters, 5-year-old Siya and her father Prasad Kadam were elated.
“This was her first experience of travelling by train as I cannot think of taking her in local trains. We boarded from Pendhar and travelled back from Belapur in a matter of just 30 minutes. This is a long-awaited project which will help Kharghar and Taloja residents immensely,” said Prasad.
While the Navi Mumbai metro was thrown open to the public nearly five months after it was ready, a slew of other infrastructure projects that could potentially change the lives of millions of Mumbaikars have been awaiting formal inauguration for months. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was slated to inaugurate these projects as well as the Navi Mumbai metro on October 15. But the event was cancelled due to the possibility of a heat wave. It was rescheduled for October 30, but was cancelled again.
Atul Londhe, chief spokesperson of the Congress, slammed the state government for trying to derive political mileage out of the infrastructure projects.
“This government has spent hundreds of crores on advertisements for image building. To please someone by inaugurating projects by his hand, the state government has deprived the people from using these ready projects. This is unfortunate, and such a thing has never happened in last 60 years of Maharashtra. If the government does not start these projects, people will do so on own their own,” said Londhe.
On Thursday evening, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Aaditya Thackeray forcibly opened a lane of newly-built Deslie Road bridge, which has not been inaugurated by the civic body. On Friday, he wrote to Governor Ramesh Bais, saying, “Various infrastructure projects which are ready to serve the public are waiting for the inauguration as ‘illegal’ chief minister Ekanth Shinde has no time…There are no elected bodies in most of the cities, whereas in Mumbai, there are no fulltime ward officers in 11 out of 24 wards. The government has also failed to provide a fleet of new buses to BEST. So please intervene in the issue.”
Surya Water supply project
The project to supply water from the Surya dam in Palghar district to the Vasai-Virar and Mira-Bhaindar areas has been ready since October. The Vasai-Virar municipal corporation area will get additional 170 million litres per day (MLD) water from the dam, whereas the Mira-Bhaindar Municipal corporation area will get an additional supply of 218 MLD.
Palghar MP Rajendra Gavit, who is part of the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction), said he has alerted the chief minister about unrest in the two municipal areas.
“People were agitating, so as the MP from the area, I spoke with CM Shinde and updated him about the situation. He directed the authorities to start the process of supplying water without waiting for a formal inaugural function,” said Gavit. He said authorities had already started that performing technical checks and maintenance activities such as cleaning, so that the actual water supply could start soon.
25-year wait for Uran-Kharkopar rail link
Work on 26.7 km Nerul-Uran line on the harbour line began in 1996-97 at an estimated cost of ₹1,800 crore. The 12.4 km stretch between Nerul and Kharkopar was completed in 2018 and commissioned by the Central Railway in November 2018. But, five years later, the 14.2 km Kharkopar to Uran stretch is yet to be commissioned.
The stretch has stations like Gavhan, Ranjanpada, Nhava Sheva and Dronagiri. The state has been developing infrastructure in Uran, Nhava Sheva and Dronagiri, and the region will soon be connected with Mumbai through the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL).
Central Railway officials reviewed work on the Uran-Kharkopar line work in October, and the Commissioner of Railway Safety issued the mandatory certificate. The line was expected to open in Diwali, but PM’s unavailability was attributed as the reason for delay in commissioning.
“Presently, we either have to take a bus, whose frequency is limited, or go on two-wheelers or cars up to Kharkopar or Navi Mumbai in order to travel onward to Mumbai or other areas by train. It consumes a lot of time and money,” said Deepak Patil, a resident of the area.
Digha railway station
Digha railway station is part of Phase I of the Airoli-Kalwa elevated rail corridor project. The project, costing ₹476 crore, is being undertaken by the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) under Mumbai Urban Transport Project III. It took five years for Digha railway station to be ready and it has been almost seven months now since work on the station was reportedly completed. Digha residents say they have to either go to Thane or Airoli to board a train although they can see that the Digha railway station is ready. The IT corridor planned in Airoli is closer to Digha station and daily commuters can save expenses on last mile connectivity.
“They changed the name of the station from Dighe to Digha, but nothing has happened since. Nobody really seems to care for our plight. Not just local residents, but also thousands of office-goers who work in IT companies have to shell out money for autorickshaws to get here from the nearest station,” said Amit Patil, a Digha resident.
New RTO office
It has been four months since work on the new Regional Transport Office (RTO) at sector 19 in Nerul was completed at the cost of ₹9 crore. With CM Eknath Shinde reportedly not allocating time for its inauguration, the RTO has been forced to operate out of a rental premises at the APMC market in Vashi, coughing out a monthly rent of ₹3.54 lakh.
Navi Mumbai Congress spokesperson Ravindra Sawant, who had threatened to inaugurate the premises on Dussera, said, “I have written to the CM, saying it is high time the building was inaugurated. It will save the residents and also the RTO personnel from a lot of hassles. A lot of public money is also being wasted in the form of monthly rent for the current premises.”
Lane extension on Turbhe flyover
Lane extension work over the Turbhe flyover on both sides of Sion Panvel Highway has also been complete and awaiting inauguration. “The lane work is over yet for many months it’s lying unused, and boulders placed at the entrance to prevent vehicles from entering the lanes,” said Rehan Shaikh, a resident of Nerul.
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