Kasab jail stay raises monorail cost

MUMBAI: Ajmal Kasab’s stay in Arthur Road jail continues to escalate the state’s cost. Delay in procuring permissions from various authorities for the monorail project—which will pass outside the jail—has increased its cost by Rs 13 crore. Last week, TOI had carried a report about how the state may have spent approximately Rs 50 crore on Kasab’s security.
Though the state has permitted construction of a Rs 2 crore, 13-meter-high wall to cover the view of the jail’s sensitive anda cell (meant for terrorists such as Kasab) from monorail commuters, delay in securing permissions from various authorities and frequent design changes for the stretch have added Rs 13 crore to the project cost.
A senior MMRDA official said that after securing permission for the wall, state authorities are now insisting on an “arrangement of mechanical curtains” in the monorail rakes so that the jail’s view can be completely blocked. “But we have conveyed our helplessness to do so as monorails can’t have any such an inbuilt arrangement,” he said.
Coupled with the additional Rs 13 crore and the twoyear delay in construction of the monorail’s Wadala-Jacob Circle section, the total cost has escalated by around Rs 20 crore; the original project cost was pegged at Rs 2,800 crore.
Other than hurdles posed by underground utilities, opposition from local residents, lack of right of way (ROW), labour shortage for construction work have contributed to the delay.
A senior MMRDA technician working on the project said the extra cost for the wall, design changes and shifting of underground utilities works out to around Rs 10 crore.
It may be recalled that the monorail’s alignment is being shifted a bit from the centre along the jail’s 100-meter stretch and at certain corners and stretches on another 600-meter route between the jail and the Ganacharya square. Also, the height of the track will be restricted and changes will be made to the design of pillars and girders.
According to a source, for security reasons, engineers were asked to go slow on the 10-km Jacob Circle-to-Wadala portion of the track and work faster on the Wadala-to-Chembur track. The 20-km monorail is expected to benefit more than 2.5 lakh commuters.