THANE: The state government will replicate and extend the Thane Integral Ring Metro rail project to Kalwa, Mumbra and Diva, bringing the fast-growing suburbs under the fast rail transit network, Konkan Graduate Constituency MLC Niranjan Davkhare said on Monday.Davkhare who raised the issue during an online meeting with Dy CM Eknath Shinde and Mahametro officials said the rapidly expanding suburbs, which have witnessed a sharp rise in population and commuter traffic, must be integrated with the proposed Thane Ring Metro to improve connectivity with the city and other parts of the district.Accordingly, Shinde is learnt to have responded positively and gave an in-principle approval to the extension.“The rapidly developing Kalwa, Mumbra and Diva suburbs were not included in the original metro plan. There is now a need to connect them with the main metro network,” he said.Meanwhile, officials informed that a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the proposed extension had already been prepared, following which Shinde directed Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MahaMetro) to initiate the next stage of the project.Davkhare also flagged concerns over the proposed underground metro alignment through Chendani Koliwada and parts of old Thane, where residents have expressed fears about the safety of their homes. Metro officials assured the tunnelling work would not endanger existing structures and said a detailed impact assessment of the affected areas would be carried out and the findings placed in the public domain.
