Environment activist detained for trying to stop cutting of 60-year-old tree in Vile Parle

This picture has been used for representational purpose

A Save Aarey citizens group member Abhay Bavishi, on Saturday, was forcibly detained for questioning the K-West ward officials of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for chopping off an over 60-year-old old peepal tree in the gaothan area of Vile Parle.

In the tweet, BMC said the removal of the tree was vital to widen the road. It said the widening of the sixth corridor of Western Railways is an important project, for which a portion of Azad Road has been acquired. BMC, in the tweet, further said the remaining road became narrow and was affecting vehicular movement.

While the BMC officials on Saturday were in the process of chopping the tree, Bavishi asked the officials for valid documents. It is then that the police manhandled him and detained him.

Another activist Zoru Bhathena, in a tweet, questioned the cutting of the tree. In a tweet, he said, "BMC KE ward is cutting a roadside tree at Vile Parle phatak on a 2018 permission issued to BMC to BMC itself. They claim tree is coming in way of traffic If traffic was not obstructed for so many years how come in 2022 it is obstructing?"