The Bombay High Court on Friday has put a temporary stay on the Metro-3 (Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ) tunneling process. A few heritage buildings in Fort could be damaged during this process and that’s the reason for a 2-week interim stay order.
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There’s ongoing Metro-3 construction around the 161-year-old heritage structure known as ‘JN Petit Institute Library’.
Using a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), the construction comprises of going 25 meters deep and breaking the rocks underground and because of the constant vibration caused, a portion of the ceiling of the library building fell out and other buildings are starting to feel the damage.
On the basis of these problems, a petition was filed by trustees of JN Petit Institute.
The court has ordered to inspect if the heritage buildings are truly in danger and for this, a three-member committee was appointed. This committee will inspect the work of the entire Metro-3 project in South Mumbai and will measure the impact it has on the surroundings.
The High Court’s orders will seem to put a pause on the Metro-3 construction flow but the tunneling process is still far away from actual execution and now MMRC will await the High Court’s next decision.