Infra Projects

Friends, nowadays it has become fashion,or you say it habit of certain individuals and Non Government Organisations (NGO) to oppose any big infra projects for any damn reason. And on top of it  certain political parties, who know that project is important for country or state, will oppose the same because to pacify certain vote banks of theirs. This way many important infra projects are stalled, and if there are no concrete reasons to oppose then the last resort will be , this project will damage the environment. Then the National Green Tribunal (NGT) will come into picture, although there might be  approval from Ministry of Environment & Forests (MOEF) for the project, and the matter will go to High Court (HC) or Supreme Court (SC), who will direct NGT to assess the project and submit the report. This way project will be delayed and subsequently there will be cost escalation.

The classic example is the Metro 3 project in Mumbai. This project was envisaged about 8 years back, and it was Over Head Metro Railway project connecting Colaba (in South Mumbai) to SEEPZ (in Andheri East in Western suburbs) covering a distance of about 35 km. Now let me give the certain blogs which this project faced :

1. From the onset certain elite population of South Mumbai objected to this project, giving the reason that the Railway Corridor will disturb their  personal life, because the tracks will be very close to the buildings, and hence they will lose the privacy. This lobby was so strong that the govt had to change this Metro 3 network from overhead to under ground. This way cost of the project went up by Rs 15,000 Cr.
2. So with new plans of under ground Metro, the project was started about 18 months back. First work which was carried out was putting barricades for demarcating the area for metro construction, naturally this hampered the traffic movement. So for this also their was agitation.
3. So when the construction work started, then there was again agitation about the noise created by construction machines and trucks movement. another point was the construction is continuing through out night and it affects the sleeping of inhabitants of that area. In the end matter went to HC and stay was put by HC for any construction and truck movement between 10 pm to 6 am. Although the Metro Corporation objected regarding the truck movements saying that the Corporation can only clear the debris material during the night as in the day time this action will hamper the  traffic which is already moving at slow pace due to barricades, but HC did not  agree on this point.
4. Next objection was about the under ground route of the Metro train.  The inhabitants who are occupying the buildings under which the metro is supposed to pass started objecting that the tunneling work under their buildings will weaken the structure of the buildings thus putting their lives in danger.This matter also went to High court, Metro Corporation was ordered to get the structural audit report  from external agency, certifying that the refereed building will be safe even after tunneling work.
5. Next came the objections from 2 Parsi Agiyaris ( Fire Temples), which are housed in 2 old structures, one built in 1830 and other around 1896. As they are very old structures, the Fire Temples’ trustees filed an objection in HC, stating being the old structures and their health is moderate, as certified noted Structural Engineering Company, the under ground route of metro should be changed to by pass these structures. HC then directed the Structural engineering Dept. of VJTI, an Engineering college of repute, to conduct an independent structural audit and submit the report. This report was submitted to HC, and it said the tunneling will not affect the 2 Fire Temples. The Structural Consultant of the Parsi Fire Temples did not accept this report and matter is still in HC. While writing this blog the matter is being heard in HC.
6. One more major issue was the shed for Metro Train parking during night time, and also which will house the control room. After much deliberation the site which was selected was in the Aarey Milk colony Area , which is very much closer to the last station SEEPZ. There was so much agitation on this topic that , all the political parties barring ruling BJP started opposing this move, saying that Aarey is forest area and this way environment will be disturbed. Shiv Sena which is controlling Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (BMC), strongly objected and said they will not give as this area comes under BMC. Although there is permission from MOEF for this project, that shed can be located in Aarey. Although construction of the shed is started, now NGT also has come into picture,  the present status on this is unknown.

What I have listed above is the few issue and blockage the project of Metro 3 in Mumbai is facing. Now there are 100s of infra projects in the country and if every where these types of objection comes, then what will be the fate of these projects. All the citizen wants to have the benefits of the infra projects, but certain individuals/activists/NGOs do not these infra projects to hamper their work place or where they are residing, like the proverb which says ” Not in my Backyard”. Agreed the Project affected persons (PAP) should be well compensated, and the compensation should be definitely matching or above compared to market price. I recently read some where the PAP of the Navi Mumbai airport project are still not compensated fully, and they have started agitating for the same. This is very unfair on the govt or the agency who is dealing with this matter, the PAP of any project should be compensated before the start of project. Because they are surrendering either their place of earning or their place of dwelling, and in absence of the compensation they suffer financially and mentally.

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