Tribals In Aarey Paying Their Last Respects To Trees Cut By Mumbai Metro Is The Most Heartbreaking Thing You Will See

The Aarey Colony in Mumbai is an ecosystem by itself. The?Aarey Colony, which spans across 1,287 hectares?and located adjoining the Sanjay Gandhi National Park was home to thousands of trees and animals including leopards which are listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. It classifies species as being either extirpated, endangered, threatened, or special concern.

It is not just the animals that called the Aarey Forest their home, it was also a tribal settlement.

BCCL

A total of 27 tribal settlements called hamlets that were spread across the Aarey Colony have some 1027 households and tribals living there, many of them for generations.

Their houses, mostly built of wood and clay have their traditional lives depicted on its walls, and unsurprisingly the trees had a dominant role there too.

BCCL

Like the environmentalists and other concerned citizens, the tribal settlers in Aarey too were at the forefront of the campaign to save the thousands of trees that the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRCL) wanted to cut to clear land for a car shed.

Despite their best efforts, the tribals could not save their beloved trees and on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, the MMRCL went into the forest and cut down thousands of trees before anyone could do anything.

BCCL

Several tribals who protested the cutting of trees were detained and later arrested by the police.?

Now, days after their beloved trees are gone, on Tuesday night, the tribals came together to mourn their loss.

On Tuesday night, they held a ritual funeral for the fallen trees of Aarey Forest.?

According to them, they had a very emotional farewell to their tree deities, and as nature worshippers by religion, consider the tree massacre as an assault on their religion.?

Holding candles and kneeling in front of a tree that is cut they sought forgiveness from them.?

They said farewell to our trees and asked them for forgiveness because they(we) could not save them despite our best efforts. It ended with a vow to regrow what was lost and save what is left of Aarey.

The Supreme Court had on Monday ordered a stay on the cutting of trees in Aarey. But by then it is estimated that more than 2000 of the neary 2600 trees which were to be razed were cut.