Santacruz West residents have raised serious concerns over what they call a glaring contradiction in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) approach towards environmental protection and civic works. While the civic body has recently tightened norms to curb rising pollution levels across Mumbai to better the Air Quality Index (AQI) levels, locals allege that the same authority is indiscriminately cutting trees in their neighbourhood in the name of development.

At least three large, decades-old trees were felled on Dattatray Road in Santacruz West over the past few days as part of ongoing gutter repairs and road-widening work being carried out by the BMC. According to residents, workers on site claimed that the trees were cut because they “might fall” during the digging process, a justification that has failed to convince locals.