Hours after Bombay HC Verdict, BMC Starts Cutting Trees at Aarey; Citizens and Activists Come Out in Protest
Hours after Bombay HC Verdict, BMC Starts Cutting Trees at Aarey; Citizens and Activists Come Out in Protest
Several activists and protesters, who gathered at the site outside the Metro car depot site in Aarey colony in Goregaon East, were reportedly also detained by the police.

New Delhi: Hours after the Bombay High Court's verdict dismissing all petitions against the felling of over 2,500 trees for a Mumbai metro depot, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) late on Friday night started cutting trees in Aarey in the state capital.

Several activists and citizens protested outside the Metro car depot site in Aarey colony in Goregaon East. Some of them were reportedly later detained by the police. The activists also alleged that more than 200 trees have already been hacked.

Yuva Sena president Aaditya Thackeray, who has voiced his protest against the cutting of trees in the past, accused the Mumbai Metro of destroying everything India said at the United Nations.

Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani in a tweet requested Mumbaikars to reach the site and resist the move.

The BMC also uploaded on its website a letter permitting the felling of trees.

The High Court earlier on Friday dismissed a petition filed by a city-based NGO Vanashakti to declare Aarey a forest. A bench comprising Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Bharati Dangre dismissed four petitions filed by NGOs and environment activists related to the Aarey Colony.

Residents and environmentalists have been demanding that the car shed be shifted and the trees, slated to be felled, be protected instead. They fear that the car depot will destroy biodiversity and pave the way for further development and land exploitation in Aarey.

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