As the vegetation inside the Aarey Milk Colony gets drier ahead of summer months, the land mafia has begun setting afire bushes and shrubs in the ecologically important area. In the past three days, there have been at least four to five fires inside Aarey.

Antisocial elements use fire to clear land to allow slums to expand inside Aarey. Locals and activists say fires in February are a yearly phenomenon and they pose a huge threat to Aarey’s rich biodiversity.