Protests erupted both online and offline after Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) began cutting of hundreds of trees in the Aarey Colony where a proposed car shed was to be set up. People protested for weeks but to no avail as over 2600 trees were cut in the quiet of the night by the Rail Corporation. And only after than Supreme court put a stay on the felling of more trees.?
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, which has now formed the government, publicly announced that they are committed to saving Aarey and will punish those responsible for chopping off the trees.
However Shiv Sena¡¯s concern for the environment seems to have ended exactly when the elections ended.? The party that fought the decision to fell trees at Aarey Colony now controls the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation, which wants to chop down 1,000 trees for a Bal Thackeray memorial in Priyadarshini Park.
Netizens cannot help but wonder and express anger at the government¡¯s hypocrisy and Twitter is full of reactions. #AareyForest has been trending to point towards the hypocrisy Uddhav Thackeray¡¯s in dealing with environmental issues, before and after they found themselves in power.?
However, after the outrage, Shiv Sena issued a statement on Sunday evening denying any attempt or will to cut down trees.?Mayor Nandkumar Ghodele said, "¡°There has been talks circulating that we are going to cut trees to build a memorial for Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray. As a Mayor, I would like to clarify ¡ª we are going to ensure that no trees are cut for the construction of the memorial."
?Only time will tell whether or not Shiv Sena will live upto its word of saving the environment by not cutting any trees for the memorial.?