Aarey: 2,134 trees cut since Friday night
In 24 hours since 9 pm on Friday, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) cut as many as 2,134 trees in Aarey Milk Colony. The MMRCL will fell 2,185 trees and transplant 461 others for the project.
The MMRCL had sprung into action hours after the Bombay High Court dismissed a clutch of petitions challenging the felling of trees in Aarey to make way for a Metro 3 car shed. The agency deployed a team of 70 men for clearing the area demarcated for the car shed of 2,646 trees. The MMRCL will fell 2,185 trees and transplant 461 others for the project.
On Saturday morning, around 500 police personnel manned the three access roads to the Aarey Colony — Marol, Powai and Western Express Highway (Goregaon East) — allowing only locals to enter the premises since 3.30 am. Every citizen and vehicle wanting to enter the premises had to provide photo identity, address proof or permit at every checkpoint. Only school buses were given access. Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) — that prevents the assembly of more than four persons — which was imposed at Aarey Colony on Saturday, will remain in place till Sunday.
Meanwhile, several of the ‘Save Aarey’ activists and students, who had gathered at Goregaon East to protest against the “high-handedness” of Mumbai police and felling of trees by MMRCL, were taken to Dahisar, Vanrai and Samta Nagar police stations, among others, on Saturday morning.
Tribals living in Aarey hamlets were either forced to stay indoors or stopped from entering their own hamlets after Mumbai police imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the area on Saturday.
