The ongoing legal dispute over the Metro-3 vehicle shed in Mumbai has been returned to Aarey by Maharashtra’s new Shinde Government

The new government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis has directed the State Urban Development Department to place before the Cabinet a proposal for a car shed at Aarey.

On Friday (July 1), Thackeray told a press conference at Shiv Sena Bhavan that he was “deeply saddened” by the overturning of the decision, and said that the Shinde government “should not play with Mumbai’s environment”.

The government should not make a decision that would heap suffering on Mumbaikars in future, he said. “Don’t take out your anger against me on the people of Mumbai,” he said.

The dispute over the construction of a Metro car shed at Aarey has been ongoing since 2014. The move to shift the car shed from Aarey to Kanjurmarg was a major bone of contention between the Shiv Sena and its former ally, the BJP.

Fadnavis has asked officials whether the courts could be apprised through the Advocate General of the state that the car shed could be built at Aarey itself. CM Shinde seconded the move.

The government is likely to inform the High Court during the next hearing this month that it does not want the land for the car shed in Kanjurmarg, and has instead decided to construct it in Aarey. Thereafter, only the private suit over the Kanjurmarg land may continue, possibly ending the Centre v state conflict for metro car-shed in the High Court.