What is the Aarey Forest controversy that the Maha govt is facing again?
India Today
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered the government’s legal team to inform the Bombay High Court that the state will relocate the metro car shed to Aarey Colony. What is the Aarey Forest controversy that has the Maharashtra government and environmentalists locking horns again after nearly 2.5 years?
As the BJP-Eknath Shinde alliance assumed power in Maharashtra on June 30, the Aarey Forest controversy resurfaced. The relocation of a metro car shed was, in fact, one of the first decisions that the new government enforced.
Earlier, former CM Uddhav Thackeray had ordered the relocation of the metro car shed from Aarey to Kanjurmarg.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday, shortly after taking the oath of office, ordered the government’s legal team to inform the Bombay High Court that the state will relocate the metro car shed to Aarey Colony.
So what is the Aarey Forest controversy that has the Maharashtra government and environmentalists locking horns again after nearly 2.5 years?
The Aarey Colony, measuring 1,287 hectares, is located adjacent to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. It is known as the lung of Mumbai. In 2019, the then BJP-Shiv Sena government was looking to construct a shed at the site for its 33.5 km underground Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro project at the Aarey Milk Colony.
Citizens and green activists approached the Bombay High Court against this move. But within hours of the high court dismissing these petitions seeking a stay on the cutting of trees for the project, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) started felling trees.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had granted the metro authorities permission to cut as many as 2,700 trees to build a car depot for the Metro Line 3.
