03 March,2017 08:12 AM IST | | Ranjeet Jadhav
Despite the sacrifice of thousands of trees, MMRC claims Metro III project will reduce pollution and help the environment, not harm it
The proposed site for the car depot in Aarey Colony is also frequented by local wildlife. File pic
After claiming that Aarey Colony is not a forest and that there no leopards there, officials from the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) are now arguing that constructing the Metro III carshed there will help the environment, not harm it.
Days after green activists met senior MMRC officials to express their objections to the car depot plan, the Metro agency's managing director, Ashwini Bhide, held a press conference to announce that a new design had been prepared for the car depot, which will ensure that fewer trees are axed in the Aarey greens. The MMRC's earlier plan had estimated that 2,2,98 trees would have to be felled to make way for the car depot. Bhide did not specify how many trees would have to be hacked under the new plan.
For the greater good
"Those who are opposing the project should understand that once completed, the Metro will reduce a lot of pollution that takes place because of vehicular traffic. It has always been our priority to save as many trees as we can, so a revised plan has been prepared and we will soon send it to the tree authority," said Bhide.
Another official added, "Because of the trees that are going to be cut for Metro III, there will be some increase in the CO2 levels. But once the Metro project is complete, there will be a far bigger reduction in CO2 levels due to fewer vehicular trips."
Bhide also took potshots at green warriors, saying: "I want to ask, where were the green activists when illegal slums came up in Aarey and when a concrete mixing plant came up there, adjacent to JVLR?"
A senior official added, "The film city was also developed despite sharing a boundary with the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, but at that time the green activists never thought that the environment was getting destroyed."
Work on in full swing
MMRC officials also said that the construction work is on in full swing, and the pace is expected to increase in coming months. Asked whether the project would be delayed as the Aarey issue is currently subjudice before the National Green Tribunal, the MMRC official said, "We have full faith in the judiciary. We are sure that the honourable tribunal will give an order that is in the larger interest of the public."
