Mental hospital plot handed over to TMC for new station

Thane: The state government has handed over 14.83 acres of land from the Thane mental hospital to the Thane municipal corporation for its railway station expansion project. The plot is located close to Thane station, and the project has got an impetus on account of chief minister Eknath Shinde hailing from the city. The decision was cleared last week by the public health department, which owns the land.

The Thane mental hospital was set up in 1901 and had 1,850 beds—1,050 for men and 800 for women. The hospital was spread over 71.38 hectares of land, of which the Thane collector earlier handed over 5.13 acres to seven organisations. Three plots of the hospital land are encroached on, and nearly 49,000 square metres are occupied by 100 small buildings. The central government has been demanding the land for the railway expansion.

The file pertaining to the land granted for expansion also mentions that in 2010, a PIL was filed in the Bombay high court on the condition of the mental hospital and in 2015, the court gave a judgment which mandated better facilities for the inmates and said that all encroachments on the hospital land should be stopped immediately.

The expansion proposal has been okayed by the state cabinet, and the Thane municipal corporation has cleared a station area traffic improvement management system. Meanwhile, the state public health department has also okayed the setting up of a state-of-the-art mental hospital at a cost of ₹675.83 crore on the land, which will be built in conjunction with the Bangalore-based NIMHANS.

Thane municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar said the present Thane station was being used by seven lakh persons. “Right now, there is no station between Thane and Mulund,” he said. “The railways will construct one, for which the mental hospital land has been acquired. The present station will cater to Naupada, Kopri and Kalwa, while the new railway station will cater to the Vartak Nagar, Ghodbunder Road, Lokmanya Nagar and Wagle Estate areas. This new station will take 40 per cent load off the old station. At present, we have a traffic management system around the present station, but the new station will have a better one.”

Thane city is also scheduled to get a new multi-speciality hospital, the foundation stone of which was laid by chief minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday. Shinde, who hails from Thane city and began here as a corporator, has already made a provision of ₹500 crore for the 900-bed hospital.