Mumbai: Tender invited to hire consultant for Metro 9 work

Villagers have claimed that the government wanted to take away a patch on which paddy is cultivated. File Pics/Nimesh Dave

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has invited tenders to appoint a consultant to clear forests between the Subhash Chandra Bose stadium at Bhayandar and the proposed car depot at Dongri in Uttan to build the Mumbai Metro Line 9. This particular section of the line has been opposed by villagers of Raigaon and Murdha as it is allegedly going to displace some locals.

An MMRDA official said, "We have invited tenders for the appointment of a consultant for getting forest clearance for the construction of Mumbai Metro Line 9 from Subhash Chandra Bose stadium to the proposed car depot at Dongri in Thane district, including the foundation of EHV [extra-high voltage] towers for the Mumbai Metro Rail Project."

In 2022, mid-day reported on how the villagers of Raigaon, Morve and Murdha were against the setting up of the car depot. They claimed that the government wanted to take away a patch on which paddy is cultivated and if the car depot came up, they would be landless. Locals had told mid-day that around 329 farmers would be affected by the proposed car depot and another 547 structures were in the way of the alignment. The villagers have also written a letter to state Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde, voicing their concerns.

In the letter, the villagers suggested that the car shed should be constructed on government-owned land near Khopra-Uttan near Gorai's Global Vipassana Pagoda. The locals have claimed that the huge parcel of land could be used to construct the depot of several Metro lines, for which land is required to set up such facilities. The line in question The collector of Thane district had given advance possession of 59 hectares of land at Dongri to the MMRDA for the development of the Metro Line 9 car depot.

Metro Line 9, from Dahisar to Mira Bhayandar, is an extension of Line 7, from Andheri to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, and is 13.581 km long (11.386 km elevated and 2.195km underground) with 10 stations. Once operational, it shall provide interconnectivity among the existing Western Express Highway, Western Railway, ongoing Metro Line 2A (Dahisar to DN Nagar) and Metro Line 7 (Andheri East to Dahisar East). It will also provide rail-based access to commercial and government bodies and geographical landmarks in Mumbai. The MMRDA claims that the line will help reduce the current travel time by anything between 50 and 75 per cent, depending on road conditions.

13.581 km
Length of Mumbai Metro Line 9