Mumbai: Residents of the crowded Girgaum-Kalbadevi area of South Mumbai, where a new metro route will pass through, have called for a shutdown in their area to protest against the project.
They say the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro-III will displace them.
The Shiv Sena, an ally of the BJP-led Maharashtra government, on Wednesday backed the protest, as did the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Congress party.
Essential services were exempted from the strike, a local Sena leader told reporters and police said there had so far been no untoward incidents.
Local residents are worried that those displaced by the metro line may not get fair compensation for their properties.
The fisherwomen of Chira Bazaar told a Marathi TV channel that they don’t trust the government, considering even those displaced by the Metro in Andheri are still awaiting resettlement.
One woman said: “When commuters can choose between trains starting from Churchgate, buses and taxis, what is the need for the metro which will lead to loss of our homes and livelihood.”
Even small-time traders in this area are deeply concerned and say they have been doing business in this locality for 150 years.
According to the MNS’s south Mumbai wing chief, Arvind Gawde, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation is offering Girgaum to the “vegetarian lobby” of Gujarat and Rajasthani builders.
The 32.5km Metro Line III is mostly underground with 27 stations and will connect major central business districts of Nariman Point and Bandra-Kurla Complex, domestic and international airport and industrial areas of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation and Santacruz Electronic Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ).
It will also connect various areas in the island city that are not served by the suburban railways like Kalbadevi, Worli, Prabhadevi, airport area and Andheri East.
Though the over Rs230-billion (Dh13.4 billion) project has an ambitious deadline of 2020, considering how projects move in the city, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is keen that it takes off early and has assured affected residents living in houses less than 300 sq ft that they will be rehabilitated in flats twice the size of their existing flat area. And for the others living in homes larger than 300 sq ft, they will be eligible for at least a 30 per cent larger area.
A total of 777 families living in 28 buildings in Kalbadevi, Girgaum and Mahim will be affected by the alignment.
Despite being underground, space would be required for tunnel boring machines and exit points for debris disposal work and therefore several open spaces like school grounds, open plots marked for recreation and parking lots would be used during construction and probably lose portions to make way for entry and exit points.
