A special bench of the Supreme Court will hear a case on Monday against the cutting of trees in Mumbai’s Aarey colony.
The special bench was constituted after law students wrote to Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, urging the top court to pay urgent attention in the matter and to suspend the cutting of trees immediately.
In Aarey Colony, authorities planned to axe over 2500 trees to make way for a car shed for an upcoming line of the Mumbai Metro.
As the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) started cutting trees, several activists held protests and tried to stop the action.
Police had booked many protesters under various sections of the IPC on Friday. But they were given conditional bail by the court.
This came after the Bombay High Court cancelled four petitions challenging cutting of trees at Aarey Colony for the metro car shed.
Many Bollywood Celebrities voiced their anger on social media after authorities began cutting down trees at Mumbai’s Aarey.
Congress leader Priya Dutt hit out at the BJP government.
She said, “Cutting of trees in aarey inspite of protests from citizens, lockdown In Kashmir now over a month, opposition under house arrest, FIR registered against 47 who wrote to their PM with concerns….is this the beginning of the end of democracy.”
MD of MMRCL Ashwini Bhide, in a tweet justified the felling of trees in Aarey colony by saying that destruction was necessary to pave the way for new life and creation.
Her tweet came few hours after the MMRCL claimed to have planted 24,000 trees to make up for the destruction of the Aarey green patch.
“Promises kept Commitments delivered. #MMRC has planted arnd 24,000 trees across Mumbai including #AareyMilkColony and degraded areas of #SGNP. Sturdy native species like Behada,Kadamb, Karanj etc 6 – 12 inch girth & 12-15 ft height planted. 2 years efforts and results show up,” Mumbai Metro 3 said in a tweet.
