MUMBAI: The Thane Integral Ring Metro Rail Project (TIRMRP), which is coming up for environmental clearance on Monday, will claim 5,380 mangroves of Thane, affect hundreds of trees and also cut through Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and its eco-sensitive area. According to information, the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) is all set to give it clearance in its Monday meeting.
The project is being executed by the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited and traverses predominantly urbanised coastal plains with localised undulating terrain. Its area has the hilly and forested terrain of Sanjay Gandhi National Park to the west, the Ulhas River system to the north and east and the Thane Creek estuarine system to the south.
TIRMRP was envisaged as necessary infrastructure for Thane’s growing population, and the ground-breaking ceremony was done before the assembly polls of 2024. The project is designed to facilitate multi-modal integration through connectivity with the existing Thane Railway Station and the upcoming Mumbai Metro Line 4 (Wadala-Kasarvadavali) and Line 5 (Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan).
The ₹12,200-crore project involves the construction of an approximately 27.04 km ring metro corridor, along with a 1.18-km depot connectivity spur, incorporating elevated, underground and switch-over ramp sections. Its total length is 27,040.253 metres, with an additional 1,177.7-metre spur from Waghbil to Kasarvadavali planned to facilitate depot connectivity. A total of 22 stations are proposed along the alignment, comprising 20 elevated stations and two underground stations.
“TIRMRP has been proposed to fulfil the increasing transportation demand arising from rapid urbanisation and population growth in Thane city,” said a senior government official. The existing road network is experiencing increasing volumes of traffic volumes, resulting in delays and reduced travel efficiency. The project aims to provide a reliable and efficient mass transit system with seamless circular connectivity across major residential, commercial and institutional areas of Thane.”
The project site, however, partially falls within a mangrove area of 29,871.87 square metres, along with an additional 40,926.53 square metres falling within the mangrove buffer zone. At present, there is no plan suggested for compensatory afforestation of the mangroves to be destroyed; the documents suggest that the compensatory afforestation plan will be decided by the Mangrove Protection Cell. The documents show only the Railadevi Balkum stretch, where 2,910 will be replanted in place of the 303 trees to be cut.
The proposed alignment passes partially within the protected area of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, affecting a length of 500.32 metres, having a forest area of 0.7863 hectares and also within its notified eco-sensitive zone for a length of 3.599 km, having a non-forest area of 6.8721 hectares.
“Apart from the 5,380 mangroves, the authorities will cut more than 3,000 trees,” said Rohit Joshi, an environmentalist from Thane. “People along the metro route have already started protesting. Thane is already crowded and it will now get more congested. Instead of spending ₹12,000 crore on the ring metro route, the authorities should buy electric buses. To add to our woes, the ring metro will pass underground, and the station area and Naupada will be out of bound for buses for nearly four years.”
