After the Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP alliance govt had come to power in 2019, the first decision the govt took was to cancel the metro car shed project at Aarey Milk Colony in Mumbai for the Mumbai Metro’s line 3. Therefore, it was fitting that when the Eknath Shinde became the CM with support of BJP, the first decision his govt took was to restore the much important project at the original location of Aarey colony.
However, the out of power Uddhav Thackeray section of Shiv Sena has against started to protest against the project, alleging harm to the environment. The former CM’s son Aaditya Thackeray has taken the lead in the protests this time, which has been joined by Bollywood stars who travel in fuel guzzling SUVs and work in much bigger Film City in the same Aarey colony.
Today Aaditya Thackeray dialled up his propaganda against the metro project by resorting to lies, by claiming that the metro car shed is not even needed to run the metro network. Joining yet another protest at Aarey, the former minister said that cars go for maintenance once in 3-4 months, therefore it is not a required part of Mumbai metro.
Mumbai | This is a fight for Mumbai, fight for life. We fought for forest&to protect our tribals. When we were here no trees were uprooted. Cars go for maintenance once every 3-4 months, not every night: Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray at Aarey protest site pic.twitter.com/aRIIRHh4oj
— ANI (@ANI) July 10, 2022
According to ANI, the Shiv Sena leader said, “Cars go for maintenance once every 3-4 months, not every night.” He also said that the protest against the metro project “is a fight for Mumbai, fight for life”. He also said that his govt had proposed to turn the construction of the car shed at Aarey to a veterinary hospital.
However, the claim that that metro cars go for maintenance once every 3-4 months, not every night is a blatant lie, and Aaditya Thackeray is deliberately using falsehood to spread propaganda against the vital infrastructure project.
First, it must be made clear that the ‘car’ in ‘car shed’ does not mean four-wheeled motor vehicles, they actually mean the coached of the metro trains. Generally, the word coach is used for trains of Indian Railways, but for some reason, the word car has been used for metro rail systems in India.
The metro car sheds are not some automobile garages that people visit when then vehicles break down or for periodic maintenance, as Aaditya Thackeray is claiming. The car shed is home of the metro trains when they are not working. Which means, they are parking spaces for the trainsets in the night, apart from the location of regular and periodic maintenances and overhauls.
While explaining the need for the car shed at Aarey, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation had published a FAQ, which shows how vital a car shed is for a metro system. The MMRC website says, “Car Depot is mandatory & essential facility for smooth operation of any Metro system where all Metro trains will rest during non-working hours. It is in the Car Depot that the trains can be washed, cleaned, repaired and maintained. It is the starting point for train operation every day. A Car Depot serves Metro trains akin to a “home” for any human being.”
MMRC specifically says that car shed or depot is mandatory and essential facility, not a facility used once in three-four months.
Metro rakes are not parked at station at the night after the metro services are over for the day, and that’s why a car shed is essential to park them. And they are not just parked for the night there, they also undergo various types of cleaning and maintenances as per norms.
A report on Operations and Maintenance Systems by the Ministry of Urban Affairs cites the maintenance schedule of Delhi Metro, and it shows that it is a daily affair, not once in 3-4 months as claimed by Aaditya Thackeray.
According to this scheduled, a check of the train rakes is done every day, and the interior and exterior of the trains are also cleaned every day, along with washing of the windows. Apart from this, various levels of checks are done every 15 days, 45 days, 90 days, 180 days, 360 days, 720 days, while various levels of overhauls are done at every 3.5 years, 7 years, 10.5 years and 15 years.
Apart from the daily cleaning, the metro trainsets also undergo light cleaning, heavy cleaning on weekly and monthly basis.
While all trains are cleaned every day, other activities are done weekly, monthly, or longer intervals. And as they are major cleaning or maintenance activities, and require dedicated bays, only a limited number of trainsets are taken up for this works every day. Therefore, every day there will be trainsets scheduled for major maintenance or overhauls, and the car shed remain busy on all days of the year.
Therefore, from the Delhi metro maintenance schedule it is clear that all the trains are cleaned every day, and while other maintenance activities have longer intervals, as the trains are taken up for such activities on a rotation basis, every day there will be few trainsets requiring such periodic maintenance.
It is completely wrong to say that metro cars will go for maintenance only once in 3-4 months. In fact, they need the shed to rest on every single night, and also need it for daily and other regular activities.
It is shocking that Aaditya Thackeray is making such false claims that car shed is not essential since it is needed only once in 3-4 months. If that was the case, the line 3 of Mumbai Metro should have been completed when his govt was in power.
Aaditya Thackeray was a senior minister in the MVA govt, and his govt was trying hard to set up the car shed at Kanjurmarg. They could not do that because the land they wanted to use for the project is under litigation. If a car shed is not needed, there was no need for trying for an alternate site.
And if they had proposed to build a veterinary hospital at the Aarey site, they could have started work on it. But the fact that it was never done shows that they also knew that eventually the project will return to Aarey only.
The Mumbai Metro have already made it clear that a car shed is ‘mandatory and essential’ to run metro services, and various authorities and courts upto the Supreme Court of India have decided that the Aarey Milk Colony site is the best site for the project. But still the celebrity activists and Shiv Sena is opposing the project only for political purpose.
It is notable that the trees that needed to be cut for the car shed at Aarey has already been cut, and no more trees are needed to be cut. Moreover, against around 2150 trees that have been cut, around 24000 trees were already planted.