While the Supreme Court on Monday criticised the Maharashtra government over poor compensatory afforestation undertaken for trees cut in Aarey forest to make way for infrastructure projects after an inspection found that only about 50 per cent of the over 20,000 planted saplings had survived, city-based environmentalists and nature lovers have called for stricter monitoring. mid-day has been consistently highlighting how compensatory plantation and transplantation efforts have left much to be desired.

On Monday, the court criticised the Maharashtra government regarding the poor afforestation. It has been reported that the court also instructed the state chief secretary to submit concrete proposals by November 10 for the management and protection of trees planted under the compensatory afforestation mandate. The court was also hearing a plea seeking permission to cut trees for the construction of the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project, which aims to connect Film City in Goregaon with Khindipada (Amar Nagar) in Mulund.