Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday hailed the Bombay High Court's decision to lift a stay on the transfer of part of Thane Mental Hospital's land for the construction of a railway station, and said the new facility will reduce the burden of commuter footfall at Thane and Mulund stations.

?The high court on Friday allowed the transfer of the hospital’s more than 14 acres land, out of its total land of 72 acres, for the new railway station.?

A new station will come up on this land belonging to the Maharashtra government's health department, CM Shinde said in a release issued by his office here. "Of the total 72 acres of (the hospital's) land only 14.83 acres will be utilised for the construction of the new railway station. It will come up only on this land. Once this station is built, the commuter footfall at Thane station will reduce by 31 per cent and Mulund station by 21 per cent," he said.

At present, 7.50 lakh people use Thane railway station for commute daily, the chief minister said.?Shinde represents the Kopri-Pachpakhadi Assembly constituency in Thane.?

He said that due to the persistent efforts by Shiv Sena's elected representatives, the railway administration approved the plans of the new railway station. Funds of Rs 289 crore were allocated for the project under the Thane Municipal Corporation’s Smart City scheme.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader and Thane MP Rajan Vichare issued a statement, saying that the demand for the new railway station was pending for a long time. "I took the Railway Board's approval for it and got the funds approved...After eight long years, the high court has lifted the stay imposed in 2015. So it's time for celebration now," he said.?

The idea of the new station was first mooted by late Shiv Sena MP Prakash Paranjpe. The proposal was later forwarded by NCP MP Sanjeev Naik and finally got sanctioned by present MP Vichare.