At a time when encroachment has become a big issue; a vital rail corridor of Airoli-Kalwa is straddled by issues of shifting Project Affected People (PAPs). There are 1080 PAPs out of which 209 PAPs can be immediately shifted. Majority of remaining ones are stuck in political fight as they form vote banks. On February 16, Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve assured that 25000-odd families illegally residing on rail land on Central and Western Railways will be relocated as per law.
This 8 kms long (track kms) elevated link between Airoli and Kalwa is crucial for decongesting Thane station in future. However it is apparently stuck in political in-fighting among different parties trying to gain upper hand and woo vote banks which also comprise of people illegally encroaching on the land there.
According to senior railway officials there were in total of 1080 PAPs out of which 209 PAPs were allotted tenements in Bhaindar pada in Thane Ghodbunber location. These tenements allotted to them, however was converted into Covid Centers during the first and second waves of the pandemic.
"We have now asked the local authorities to lift it's use from a Covid centre and restore it back to regular tenements so that we can shift these PAPs," said a railway official on condition of anonymity.
As for the balance 871 PAPs, the rail authorities began conducting final verification procedure and had finished verification for nearly half of these PAPs. This is when political interference began and leaders of rival parties, who are part of the State Government now, stalled this process. There is a stalemate kind of situation for past few months now.
Senior railway officials said that they will raise this issue with the Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, during his visit to Thane on February 18. As of today, the rail authorities have managed to create tenement facilities to 715 PAPs out the remaining 871 PAPs which is yet to be distributed owing to interference from political parties.
This Airoli-Kalwa Elevated Rail Link will create connectivity for people staying on the Trans Harbour section on Navi Mumbai to reach the Main line without actually changing at Thane. It is proposed at a cost of Rs 476 crore and is part of the Rs 10947 crore Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP)-4.
Intotal illegal occupants have encroached upon nearly 57 hectares of rail land. On CR, around 13,839 structures are occupying 37.29 hectares of land, mostly in Kurla, Mankhurd and the Kurla-Trombay line. On WR, the number of illegal structures stand at 10,572 and most numbers of these were found in Bandra-Khar, Jogeshwari, Malad etc.
Meanwhile work on Digha railway station, which is a part of the Airoli-Kalwa elevated corridor project, is in the final stages. The station should be ready by the end of the year. The project was flagged off in 2016 by PM Narendra Modi. There have been constant delays in the project due to unavailability of land and hence the project was categorised in two phases in which Digha railway station work was to be completed in the first phase.
Commuters coming to Navi Mumbai from Kalyan, Dombivli, Ambernath and Badlapur for work or other purposes have to first travel to Thane railway station and then take the harbour route to Vashi station. This corridor will provide direct access to Navi Mumbai from Kalwa. It will also reduce the burden of increasing the number of passengers at Thane railway station.
