Development body,railways eye same plot for projects

The officials at the railway headquarters in the city said the land has been earmarked for stationing the 12th battalion of the RPSF. “The railway minister had even made budgetary allocations for the same project and the work for the same is in progress. Moreover,we are planning to have additional stabling lines for 12-car coaches,” said Shriniwas Mudgerikar,chief spokesperson,Central Railway. “We can have a special force in the city instead of ordering it from outside. The force will help us in strengthening the security,especially after 26/11.”

Local railway authorities too seemed reluctant to give the land to any state agency especially in the aftermath of the Bandra land fiasco (see box). “The Bandra land issue has left a bad taste¿ it was an unfortunate incident,” said a senior CR official.

The now-defunct power station outside the Thakurli railway station near Kalyan was built by the then Great Indian Peninsular Railway (GIPR) in 1929 to provide electricity on the Kalyan-Pune section. The CR had to shut the plant in 1989 after it became economically unviable.

Like the MMRDA,the CIDCO is also planning to generate electricity through a gas-based project for its Metro project and other residential and commercial areas. “We are in talks with the state-owned power company so that we can transmit the generated electricity to a grid. This is to ensure an uninterrupted power supply to us,” said G S Gill,vice-chairman and managing director of the CIDCO.