14 September,2019 07:57 AM IST | Mumbai | Prajakta Kasale
Aarey Colony
BMC has given permission letter to MMRCL to remove 2646 trees in Aarey for Metro car depot on Friday, September 13. The Tree Authority (TA) passed the proposal on August 29. Tree activists went to the high court, the court had not given stay on the decision citing that the civic body wasn't given formal permission to MMRCL. "Though the 15 days completed after tree authority's decision, the days will be calculated after the permission letter i. e. from September 13," said an activist from the 'save Aarey movement.'
There is constant opposition from activist to cut trees in the Aarey. Despite opposition from Shiv Sena, the proposal of removing 2646 trees had passed in the TA meeting on Aug 29. As per the proposal, there are 3,691 trees on the proposed Metro III car shed site in Aarey colony. Metro proposed to cut 2185 trees and transplant 461 trees.
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After the 15 days, the civic body issued a permission letter to the MMRCL. The letter is signed by the superintendent of Garden. The letter mentioned section 8 (3) a, of the tree act that no tree shall be cut until 15 days after the permission is given by the Tree Authority.
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Soon after the decision in the Tree Authority, the tree activists went to the court. The BMC told in the high court that as per the tree act there is a window period of 15 days for appeal and so the civic body has not given permission letter to the MMRCL. The high court had not given any stay on the decision and the next hearing in on Tuesday, September 17. The BMC's tree authority has already sanctioned the removal of 3,381 trees for stations and another site of Metro III, the plan to remove 3,448 trees (including 2,646 for car shed) was in the pipeline.
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