A committee, set up by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in December, has recommended lifting the stay on construction of the Mumbai Metro Line 3 car shed at Aarey Milk Colony.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the four-member committee - headed by Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Manoj Saunik - submitted its recommendations to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on January 29.

The committee had been asked to explore if an alternate site was available outside the green zone for shifting the Line 3 metro car shed.

However, the panel has not found a viable alternative, the report suggests.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Even though the committee has cited logistical challenges, cost escalations and a delay in the commissioning of the metro rail corridor to justify allowing the car shed to remain at the present location, it found merit in the argument that increased construction activity inside the Aarey Milk Colony. The report cites the panel as stating that the project was impacting the flora and fauna in the region.

Aarey Milk Colony is considered one of the largest and last green spaces of India’s financial capital. The panel has, thus, recommended that the state government should notify the unbuilt green areas inside the colony as a no-construction belt, preserving it like a protected forest.

While the 33.5-kilometre metro corridor from Colaba in South Mumbai to SEEPZ in Andheri is underground, the car-shed itself at the end of the line is at grade.

The car-shed’s location within Aarey Milk Colony remains a bone of contention between environmentalists and the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (MMRCL), which is developing the corridor since the project was in it proposal stage.

On October 4, authorities reportedly felled over 2,000 trees at the site overnight, hours after a Bombay High Court verdict.

Thackeray’s Shiv Sena supported protesters against the felling of trees even though it was then allied with the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In November, the Maharashtra government stayed the construction work of the car-shed and dropped cases filed by the police against 29 protesters, a day after Thackeray was sworn in as the chief minister.