It was business unusual for Breach Candy residents as many of them sacrificed a late, lazy Sunday morning to congregate at Breach Candy's Tata Garden to protest against the Coastal Road. The road will take away a considerable slice of the garden, with more than 140 trees (there are at least 300 trees within the garden) being axed to necessitate the construction of the parallel transport facility. "Yet," said Dr Nilesh Baxi of the Breach Candy Welfare Group, under whose aegis this protest was being held, "we are not obstructionists as accused. We are simply looking for a balance between development and environment."

White fight

There was significant police presence as roughly 100 protesters, shod in white as the dress code advocated, tied coloured cloth to the trees in the garden. The cloth "are rakhis symbolising the relationship between residents and trees, with the former as protectors of them. Many have taken 20 years to grow to this height," said Baxi, ruing the fact that, "the future generation will be unable to savour the shade and succour they provide".