Setback For #SaveAarey Campaigners As Bombay HC Clears Felling Of 2600 Trees For Metro Construction

In a major setback for environmentalists and citizens trying to save the Aarey Forest in Mumbai, the Bombay High Court has ruled that the area is not a forest, thus clearing the way for felling some 2,600 trees there for the construction of a crashed as part of the Metro Rail project.

"The issue is pending before the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal. Hence, we are dismissing the petition on the principle of commonality and not on merits," a bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Bharti Dangre said.

BCCL

Stalin Dayanand, the founder of Vanashakti, an NGO which has been fighting the case said that the HC did not make any observations made on merits and added that the trees on the metro site cannot be cut for 15 days from date of uploading of permission of MCGM.

Dayanand also said that the legal fight against the felling of the trees will continue in the SC.

BCCL

Yash Marwa, another activist from the Save Aarey Campaign said they are disappointed with the HC order.?

"We are deeply disappointed about what happened in the High Court today. But we won't give up. Our fight will continue. There was a time when we were just around 1,500 people. But now we have more than 5000 including celebrities making their voice heard in support of Aarey every day across several platforms. And our fight will continue in the Supreme Court," Yash told Indiatimes.?

BCCL

The Aarey Colony, which spans across 1,287 hectares and located adjoining the Sanjay Gandhi National Park has been for long a battleground for the development v/s environment debate.

While the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited argues that the project was of paramount importance for the city and that it is not a forest or a floodplain, environmentalists say that Aarey is the lungs of Mumbai and the destruction of the last patch of greenery in the city will have far-reaching environmental consequences.