Now, temple stands in way of monorail deadline

Even as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) promises the deadline of completing the first monorail of the country in 2011, there are still many issues they need to address before throwing the service open to the public.

Members of Vithal Mandir Sangharsh Samiti (VMMS) are protesting against Dadar TT railway station coming up in the second phase of Monorail which will run from Jacob Circle to Wadala. They have also suggested a modified alignment to avoid disturbance to the current Vithal Temple situated within the 50 metres circumference of the proposed station.

The VMMS has written to the Metropolitan Commissioner suggesting an alternate spot to set up the station 100 metres away from their current spot. The place suggested by the group also falls in commercial zones where no residents would be troubled and more people using the commercial complex would be benefited.

" We have suggested them a place near GD Ambekar road which would be nearby to the current Dadar station also for easy and quick switchovers," said Dipak Sawant, Secretary VMMS. The temple is around 380 years old and is a heritage site. Every year around 3 lakh people visit the temple during ' Aashadi Ekadashi'. There is also a two- day fair and a procession carried out by the devotees. " If the station is build close to the temple, the devotees would face difficulties especially during the fair leading to a chaotic situation so we suggested an alternate arrangement," said Sawant. There are also other Ram and Haunman temples near the Vithal temple in the area.

The MMRDA has received the letter and are going through it. " We are studying the feasibility of the alternate mode and then we would be able to comment about our plan" said Dilip Kawathkar, Joint Project Director ( PR), MMRDA. Earlier the residents near Sewri had protested the Eastern Freeway project as the Shri Swayambhu Icchapuri Ganesh temple was to be shifted by the MMRDA. The authority later however modified their plan and the freeway would now be passing nearby the temple without affecting it. Another suggestion given by the VMMS is naming the station Vithal Temple instead of Dadar TT due to the proximity to the structure.