Citizens Mourn As 5000 Trees Are Cut For Mumbai Metro Construction

Early this year, India Today reported that a petition was filed by Mumbaikar, Nina Parekh, accusing authorities of having given permission to cut 5,000 trees for the Mumbai Metro-3. Authorities had decided against transplanting and relocating the trees on grounds of the process being expensive. In response, the Bombay High Court, on Thursday, had ordered the authorities to refrain from further felling until an independent committee investigated the matter and determined whether there was a more environmentally conscious option at hand. Despite the resistance put up by the Mumbaikars, latest reports say that early this month, the Bombay High Court vacated their stay order.

Over the last few weeks, thousands of trees have been cut down. To protest against this, the citizens took to the streets, resorting to candle-light vigils, Chipko movements and peaceful protests. Abhay Bavishi climbed a tree and sat atop it to prevent its felling. Zoru Bathena, a citizen activist, has been attempting to incessantly save the tress. “Neena Verma has filed the petition to the Bombay High Court and we are supporting her. The HC gave us a stay and then they vacated it. Hence, we moved to the Supreme Court. Now, the matter is again back to the High Court,” he said, adding, “After hearing us, SC ordered to take our grievances before a bench of the Bombay High Court. Now, before the committee could be formed and they could look into the matter, the metro people started cutting down the trees as they are not legally wrong since SC didn’t give us any stay on stopping the trees cutting.”

The need for felling the trees has been questioned, asking whether development is more important than environment. Chief Minister Fadnavis had tweeted, “CM instructed Constitution of joint team of officials of Mumbai Metro Rail Corp and prominent citizens to study impact and minimize the loss of trees.” There has been no follow-up on his behalf so far.

The authorities have been criticised for this ill-planned move and Advocate Godfrey Pimenta, trustee of Watchdog Foundation calls for citizens’ movement, believing that only if the Mumbaikars stand together, can the movement be a success. Hopefully, the BHC finds a better way of development without costing the already suffering Mumbai atmosphere, the necessary respite of 5,000 trees.

Representational feature image via Citizenmatters.in