Mumbai: As widespread protests by civil society continue for the Mumbai metro to harvest around 2,700 trees in Aarey Milk Colony area, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Friday that every tree is cut down.
The protest took place since last week in the city, this comes after Mumbai civic body’s Tree Authority gave nod to cull 2,700 trees in Aarey Milk Colony in suburban Goregaon to make way for a crashed off one of the metro lines.
Fadnavis said in a program, “I am an environmentalist. Every tree that cuts makes me nervous. But we have to strike a balance.”
As people start moving to the metro instead of private vehicles, carbon dioxide emissions will decrease, he argued.
Fadnavis said that two crore trees would be planted to reduce emissions.
Further, he said, the Supreme Court ruled that the Aarey Colony area was not forested land.
He said about 500 trees would be “replicated” and 3,000 new trees would be planted.
In addition to the carvings for Metro Line 3, a portion of Aarey Milk Colony – which connects to Sanjay Gandhi National Park – will also be used to build the metro building, which is building the nerve centre for the 337-km network.
There were also reports of Metro officials demanding another 30,000 square feet of land in Aurai Colony for the sixth row. Officials remained unavailable for comment on the report.
(With PTI Inputs)
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