Now, Save Aarey protest reaches Amitabh Bachchan's residence

The protest outside Amitabh Bachhan's Juhu residence Jalsa

Actor Amitabh Bachhan's tweet on how beneficial the Metro was for the city has not gone down well with environmental activists, leading to a protest right outside his residence. Strengthening their voices of dissent against the decision to cut over 2,700 trees to pave way for the Metro III car shed, a group of protesters reached Bachhan's Juhu residence Jalsa with placards and posters on Wednesday morning and staged a demonstration against his support to the project.

Gardening a solution?

Bachhan had tweeted on September 17 saying, "T 3290 - Friend of mine had a medical emergency, decided to take METRO instead of his car…came back very impressed…said was faster, convenient and most efficient…solution for pollution...grow more trees…I did in my garden…have you."

The tweet was later hailed by MMRC chief Ashwini Bhide, who said, "Thank u @SrBachchan ji fr depicting d importance of #Metro so succinctly. Thank you for ur support. We'r committed 2 commission entire #MumbaiMetro network incldng @MumbaiMetro3 @d earliest r prvide faster, safer, convenient & #PollutionFree commute 2 #Mumbaikars #AareyAikaNa."

Akshay Kumar

Reacting to Bachhan's tweet, some activists took to Twitter and said that common citizens did not have personal gardens, while some others reached his residence to protest.

It's Khiladi's turn

Environmentalist Zoru Bhathena invited Bachhan to see Aarey and tweeted, "Dear @SrBachchan would request you to leave the protection of your garden & join our friends waiting for u outside Sir. Let us take you for a visit to Aarey. It will change your perception Sir. When will you join us Sir. Aarey is waiting. #SaveAareyForest #SaveAareySaveMumbai."

Meanwhile, actor Akshay Kumar took a Metro ride on line 1 from Ghatkopar to Versova and shared how wonderful his experience was through a video on Twitter. In the 1.25 minutes video he is seen speaking about how he reached Versova from Ghatkopar, where he was shooting, in just 20 minutes, whereas Google Maps was showing two hours to cover the same distance. He mentioned that the ride was good and he could reach faster as well.

He also speaks about how essential Metro was for the city as it's the only mode of transport that keeps moving even as the roads get flooded. He also tweeted saying, "My ride for today, the @MumMetro...travelled #LikeABoss from Ghatkopar to Versova beating the peak hours traffic." Reacting to this, Zoru Bhathena tweeted: "Ah @akshaykumar, the Save Aarey movement finally got you to use the Metro, five years after it started. Metro is such a good thing for Mumbai na! Now, when will you visit Aarey? Let us show you something even better than the Metro. #SaveAareyForest #SaveAareySaveMumbai."

Count the trees

Meanwhile, BMC standing committee chairman, Yashwant Jadhav asked the Tree and Garden department officials to provide information on the number of trees that have been planted in the city and how many of them have survived. Jadhav had openly protested the tree-cutting proposal for the Metro III car depot and also filed a petition in the Bombay High Court.

Mouni Roy

Rock from Metro site falls on Mouni's car

Actor Mouni Roy had a scary experience on Wednesday when her car was hit by a huge rock that fell from a structure at the Mumbai Metro construction site in Juhu. The actor, who was on her way to work, expressed her disappointment over the irresponsibility of the Metro officials on social media. The Gold actor took to her Twitter handle and said: "Was on my way to work at Juhu signal a huge rock falls on the car 11 floors up. Can't help but think what if anybody was crossing the road. Any suggestions as to what to be done with such irresponsibility of the Mumbai Metro."

Mouni has also shared a small video of her damaged car. Speaking to mid-day, Dilip Kawathkar, joint project director (PR), MMRDA, said, "Around 11am today a ring spanner slipped from a worker's hand from a height of 15 metres while he was working at Metro Line 2B site in DN Nagar and fell on a moving car. The car's rooftop glass broke due to the impact. The vehicle was immediately taken to the showroom. MMRDA will investigate the matter and adequate compensation will be paid to the car owner."

(With inputs from Ranjeet Jadhav and Agencies)

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