HC disposes plea opposing tree felling

Mumbai: In a relief to MMRCL, the Bombay high court disposed of the PIL opposing the cutting of trees at Aarey for the metro car-shed.

The order came after  Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited informed the court that it will not cut a single tree without the tree authority’s permission. During the hearing, the court also directed the Brihanmumbai Muni-cipal Corporation  to grant a fair hearing to residents who are objecting the proposal to cut trees for the metro car-shed and to publish details of the permission granted.

A division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Girish Kulkarni was hearing a petition filed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Preeti Menon, objecting the MMRCL’s proposal to axe 2,700 trees to clear a 33-hectare plot at Aarey Milk Colony in Mumbai to make way for the proposed car-shed for the metro 3 project.

The petitioner informed the court that the BMC’s tree authority had failed to provide a fair hearing to members of the public who had raised objection to the proposed felling of trees.

The BMC objected to the plea and said that it had already invited objections from the public and was in the process of granting a hearing to such objections. It also said this was premature as the tree authority was yet to grant final permission for cutting trees for the car-shed.

As per Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited’s own admission before the bench, out of the 2,700 trees to be felled, around 450 will be transplanted and restored elsewhere. Further, it will carry out compensatory replantation at an alternate plot in lieu of the remaining trees that will be cut and destroyed.