Mumbai: Now, 228 trees to go in Mahul for better roads

BMC says there are three roads, Mahul Village, RC Marg and Mysore Colony, that need widening. File pic

In the sensitive Mahul area of the city, infamous for its uninhabitable environment and poisonous air and already in a controversy over housing, the BMC now plans to remove 228 trees to enable better roads. The notice by the Tree Authority (TA) states that trees will be removed for improvement of Mahul and Mysore Colony roads.

This has raised the hackles of activists who fear a worse eventuality in the already-polluted Mahul. In the last year, the BMC published a notice to remove 14,518 trees, three times more than the average number. And on the very first day of this year, it published a notice to remove 244 trees across the city for 30 projects. On the second day, there was a notice for removing 228 trees (cutting 201 and transplanting 27 trees) in Mahul.

"There are three roads - Mahul village, RC Marg from Kokaiya junction and Mysore colony road - that need improvement. The current road of Mahul village is 40 to 55-feet wide. It will be turned into a 90-feet wide cement concrete road. A part of this 2.3-km road is currently made of paver blocks," said a civic officer.

The road is being made as per DP 2034 and it will benefit Mahul villagers and SRA buildings as well, he added. The "beneficiaries", however, aren't too happy with the development. "The road is already wide enough. There aren't many vehicles plying here. Why are they widen it by cutting so many trees?" questioned Nandu Shinde, a resident of Mahul PAP (project-affected people) colony and one of the petitioners in the Supreme Court. He added that the project will worsen the air pollution in Mahul.

Local corporator Shrikant Shinde told mid-day that while there was already a cement concrete road in Mysore colony, it is a single lane road. "Now the BMC is adding another lane. The work of laying sewer lines has already begun," he said adding that the road goes to Mahul village and the SRA colony road connected to it.

Activists, however, are disappointed with the civic body over the announcement. "The Maharashtra Preservation & Protection of Trees Act states that every road must have trees planted on both sides of the road. The Act also says that any trees coming in the way of road widening must be transplanted (back to the side of the widened road). But then, does our dear BMC ever follow the law? Very sad that we have to keep moving the courts to protect these helpless trees from such illegal acts," said Zoru Bhathena, an environmental activist.

Where are our promised homes, ask locals
The Bombay High Court had on September 23 ordered the civic body to provide alternative homes to Mahul PAP residents within 12 weeks and directed the government to deposit R15,000 per month as rent and an additional R45,000 as refundable deposit in the bank accounts of the PAP if the homes couldn't be provided.

The deadline for this ended on December 16 but the civic body appealed in the Supreme Court against the HC ruling. The next hearing in SC is due on January 13. There are 72 buildings and 7,200 homes in Mahul of which BMC allotted 5,550 homes to project-affected people and 3,500 families are currently residing here. After the HC order, all of them applied for alternative homes.

30
The total number of projects that the trees will be cut for

2.3km
Length of road to be improved

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