Govt told SC it will chop 84 Aarey trees; now 177 on the block

The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited MMRCL has approached the tree authority seeking permission to remove 177 trees from the car depot site for Metro line 3 at the Aarey Milk Colony Environmentalists have alleged the exact location where the trees will be cut or transplanted frommdash whether inside car depot outside or elsewheremdashhas not been mentioned They accused the government and MMRCL of lying to people when they said not a single tree will be touched for the car shedThe Tree Authority of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has published a notice from the K East ward to get approval from the municipal commissionerchairman for removal of the treesThe information of the trees for cuttingtransplanting in this proposal is available on the BMC website ldquoOn account of pandemic COVID19 citizens are requested to send the objectionssuggestions on Email sggardensmcgmgovin on or before Dt 23012023 only instead of attending hearing personally on Dt 23012023Objectionssuggestions received after this date will not be entertained which may please be notedrdquo SIC states the noticeCitizens protest the chopping of trees for the Metro car shed in Aarey File picSameer MarkandeAccording to the proposal on the site the application has been filed by MMRCL seeking permission for removal of trees obstructing the work at Sariput Nagar Aarey Colony for Metro Line3 ColabaBandraSeepz in KEast wardAlso Read Olive ridley turtlesrsquo nesting season beginsThe proposal states that there are a total of 185 trees on site of which 124 will be cut and 53 will be transplantedlsquoLong scandalous historyrsquoCitybased green activist Zoru Bhathena who is also a member of Aarey Conservation Group said ldquoEarlier former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that no more trees were needed to be cut in Aarey Milk Colony at the car depot side Last year when the government changed the MMRCL in its affidavit informed the Supreme Court that they need to process permission for 80 more trees Now the MMRCL proposal mentions trees at Sariput Nagar for Metro line 3 But they have not mentioned the exact location from where the trees will be transplanted or cut So are they going to transplant and cut trees from the car depot site or outside it or some other locationrdquoBhathena alleged that the removal of trees for the Metro 3 car depot at Aarey Milk colony has a long and scandalous history He explained ldquoIn 2014 the government informed the Bombay High Court that only 250 trees will be cut In 2015 the governmentrsquos own technical committee recommended that only 500 trees should be removed By 201819 these numbers increased to 3000 In October 2019 the government falsely contended that all these 3000 trees were cut and not a single more tree needed to be cut Later work was stopped and the forest rejuvenatedrdquolsquoSC only hopersquoldquoIn June 2022 the government made a public statement that not a single additional tree will be cut and in July 2022 thousands of old and new trees were mercilessly hacked at the site in blatant contempt of Supreme Court orders In November 2022 the government sought permission to process the removal of an additional 84 trees and in January 2023 the government is now seeking permission to remove 177 more trees The SC is the last bastion of justice for our forests We can only hope that the SC will see through the governmentrsquos activities and put a stop to the wrongdoings for Metro 3rdquo he addedIn November 2022 the Supreme Court had modified its order to maintain the status quo about tree felling in Aarey Milk Colony permitting the MMRCL to approach the relevant authority to cut down 84 trees for the metro car shed project It is said that felling of 84 trees was needed for construction of ramps for the trains at AareylsquoSC too ignoresrsquoEnvironmentalist Stalin D from NGO Vanashakti said ldquoOur assertions that MMRCL is lying about the actual number of trees that will be sacrificed in Aarey has been proven right Close to another 1000 trees will be removed From 84 they have jumped to 177 as the new figure The real damage is when the trees will be massacred under the cloak of transplantation Fadnavis and the MMRCL officials have lied through their teeth when they told people time and again that not a single tree will be touched for the car shed What adds insult to injury is that even the SC has chosen not to take cognisance of the misleading perjury committed by MMRCL The entire system has closed ranks to needlessly plunder the forests of AareyrdquoAbhay Azad from the Aarey Conservation Group said ldquoThe MMRCL is one public private utility that is functioning haphazardly In this day and age they advertised they are only taking 237 of the Aarey land which is now equivalent to killing almost 5000 treesrdquoJune 2022Devendra Fadnavis publicly assures that all treecutting activity is over in AareyNov 2022In volte face MMRCL tells SC it needs to cut 84 more trees for operational purposesJan 2023MMRCL tells Tree Authority it needs permission to remove 177 trees without mentioning where