By: Talat Mohsin
The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) has claimed that it has planted 24000 trees across the city. The video claiming the tree plantation was put up a on a social networking site. The move comes after the MMRC was criticised for cutting down trees in the Aarey forest for building a car shed.
Hours after Mumbai Metro tweeted the video, MMRC MD Bhide tweeted – “Sometimes to construct something new destruction become inevitable but it also paves the way for new life and new creation.” Over 2100 trees have been axed out to build the car shed for the metro.
A special bench of the supreme court on Monday ordered the Maharashtra government to ensure that no more trees are further cut down in the colony. The court passed the directive after hearing a suo moto PIL based on a letter written by a group of law students to the court against the felling of trees and has also said that all other petitions in the matter would be heard on October 21. The activists who were arrested for protesting have also been released.
The matter had gone out of hand when the officials cut down nearly 1500 trees on Saturday leading to protests by green activists. After the protests intensified, the police had arrested 29 protestors and imposed section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in Aarey Colony and surrounding areas.