Campaign to save 2,298 trees at Aarey Colony to knock on NGT’s doors
Activists are opposing MMRDA plan to build car shed by cutting trees in green zone.
The fight to save Aarey Colony’s green cover might soon reach the National Green Tribunal (NGT), with activists saying they would approach the national body for relief. Citizen groups too said they are planning a multipronged online and offline campaign,.
“We are protesting at multiple levels. We have sought a meeting with Additional Metropolitan Commissioner Ashwini Bhide where we will put forth our concerns regarding the proposed Metro car shed. We are also meeting Revenue Minister Ekanth Khadse to apprise him about the issue,” said green activist Rishi Agarwal, amember of the Save Aarey group.
Aarey Colony residents are up in arms over MMRDA's proposal to cut trees in the city's green zone to make way for a car shed depot for the Metro III project. According to MMRDA's proposal, a total 2,298 trees are obstructing the proposed car shed plan for Metro 3 and need to be transplanted and cut. Of the 2,298 trees, as many as 2,044 can be transplanted while 254 need to be cut.
“We are going to move the NGT since the government doesn’t seem to be sensitive to the issue. Aarey is a bustling biodiversity hub. There are hundreds of animals, birds and animals that thrive there. It is an eco-system in itself. All this will be destroyed. We will seek relief from the NGT on the larger pretext of the Right to Life,” said Anand Pendharkar of NGO SPROUTS.
Members of the Save Aarey group met Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte last week to emphasise their objection to a Metro Yard in Aarey.
Last week, a proposal for carving out a possible business district out of the lush Aarey Colony and ‘augmenting the institutional and public amenity requirements of the suburbs’ by using some of the land mentioned in the Draft DP 2034 jolted green activists.
The fight to save Aarey Colony’s green cover might soon reach the National Green Tribunal (NGT), with activists saying they would approach the national body for relief. Citizen groups too said they are planning a multipronged online and offline campaign,.
“We are protesting at multiple levels. We have sought a meeting with Additional Metropolitan Commissioner Ashwini Bhide where we will put forth our concerns regarding the proposed Metro car shed. We are also meeting Revenue Minister Ekanth Khadse to apprise him about the issue,” said green activist Rishi Agarwal, amember of the Save Aarey group.
“We are fighting against the Metro III car shed, BMC’s Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR), the new Development Plan proposal to have a business hub there and the proposed extension of Byculla Zoo. We are trying to build a sustained campaign, both online and offline,” Agarwal said.
Aarey Colony residents are up in arms over MMRDA's proposal to cut trees in the city's green zone to make way for a car shed depot for the Metro III project. According to MMRDA's proposal, a total 2,298 trees are obstructing the proposed car shed plan for Metro 3 and need to be transplanted and cut. Of the 2,298 trees, as many as 2,044 can be transplanted while 254 need to be cut.
“We are going to move the NGT since the government doesn’t seem to be sensitive to the issue. Aarey is a bustling biodiversity hub. There are hundreds of animals, birds and animals that thrive there. It is an eco-system in itself. All this will be destroyed. We will seek relief from the NGT on the larger pretext of the Right to Life,” said Anand Pendharkar of NGO SPROUTS.
Members of the Save Aarey group met Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte last week to emphasise their objection to a Metro Yard in Aarey.
Last week, a proposal for carving out a possible business district out of the lush Aarey Colony and ‘augmenting the institutional and public amenity requirements of the suburbs’ by using some of the land mentioned in the Draft DP 2034 jolted green activists.
