Aarey Forest Row: Maharashtra Govt Appoints Ashwini Bhide as Metro Rail MD

The MMRCL is implementing the controversial relocation of the metro car shed to the Aarey forest.

Protests in support of saving Aarey Forest.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook)

The Maharashtra government, on Tuesday, 12 July, appointed IAS officer Ashwini Bhide as the managing director of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL), which is implementing the widely controversial relocation of the metro car shed to the Aarey forest.

Bhide was removed from the MMRC MD post in May 2020 by the Uddhav Thackeray-led government, after she fought to implement the Aarey project.

Aditya Thackeray, the Tourism and Environment Minister in the then Shiv Sena government, had sought Bhide's transfer in 2019 for ordering felling of trees at the Aarey colony.

She is currently the additional commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and will be additionally responsible for the MMRC until further orders.

Bhide's reinstatement comes right after newly sworn in Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, on 30 June, had overturned the former CM's decision to shift the controversial metro 3 car shed out of the Aarey Milk colony.

Climate activists and protesters took to the streets to protest this decision.

The Aarey Controversy

Following months of protests from local communities and environmentalists, the then CM Thackeray in October 2020 had announced that the controversial metro car shed is being shifted from Aarey Colony to Kanjurmarg, where “the land will be available at zero rate.”

The building that had already been constructed at Aarey, at a cost of Rs 100 crore, will be used for some other purpose, he had added.

Fadnavis had criticised the decision, saying it would lead to an escalation of costs and delays in the project. He had maintained that the metro project would help mitigate the carbon footprint and would ultimately benefit the environment.

Under the preceding Fadnavis government, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation had announced its plan to cut down over 2,700 trees from the green colony in order to build a car shed for the metro.

In 2020, the BJP-led government at the centre had moved the Bombay High Court, saying that the land belonged to its salt department, following which the project had been stayed.

(With inputs from PTI.)