Railways eyes salt pan land for car depot

MUMBAI: A major chunk of salt pan land near Mira Road railway station is proposed to be reclaimed for the Churchgate-Virar elevated corridor. The Western Railway (WR) has set eyes on the 40 acre of salt pan land to construct a car depot for the project, sources revealed.
Concerned about the implications of reclaiming a salt pan land, the state has asked WR to get permission from the salt pan commissioner and Union environment ministry on its own.
WR officials disclosed the car depot plan during a meeting between senior state and railway officials and representatives of the Planning Commission on May 31.
During the meeting, the state raised concerns regarding use of the salt pan land and said that getting permissions to develop the land would be a challenging task. Salt pans, which are covered under the coastal regulation norms, are seen as no-development zones.
Besides, the salt commissioner has leased out the land to a private party. "It is a long term lease; discontinuing it abruptly could spark a legal battle," said a state official.
In the past, suggestions of freeing up salt pans for construction have witnessed stiff resistance, a senior official said.
After an initial plan to construct the car depot on a patch of land in Vasai was dropped owing to technical difficulties, railway officials identified the Mira Road salt pan land. The 60-km long elevated corridor project is being pushed to decongest the suburban railway traffic.
While the WR intends to implement the project, it has sought the state's help to acquire land, relief and rehabilitation work, shift utilities, maintain law and order during construction, develop the concourse area and fix the FSI for commercial development of stations and railway land parcels.