The Supreme Court of India today refused to stop the ongoing construction of the metro shed for line three of the Mumbai Metro after a fresh plea was filed against it. The apex court accepted the affidavit of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd saying that no trees are being cut for the construction, and refused to pass any interim order.
The bench of Justices UU Lalit, S Ravindra Bhat and Aniruddha Bose was hearing a batch of petitions filed by activists alleging that MMRCL has resumed cutting trees violating the Supreme Court order in 2019 stopping any further cutting of trees. It is notable that after the Eknath Shinde govt took over in Maharashtra, the govt had decided to go ahead with the car shed at Aarey Milk Colony, which was cancelled by the earlier Uddhav Thackeray govt.
As the MMRCA had started work at the site immediately after getting go-ahead from the govt, fresh pleas were filed against the project by activists after Shiv Sena started to hold protests against it. The petitions had alleged that trees were being cut to clear the site for the car shed.
Rejecting the allegations that the cutting of trees has resumed, MMRCA told the court that only branches of trees were trimmed on the approach road as they were obstructing vehicles. The affidavit by MMRCL also added that only weeds and bushes on the ground were cleared, and no trees were cut.
Appearing for Mumbai Metro, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the status quo ordered by the court in 2019 has been maintained. He said that the petitioners have submitted photographs of different locations. “Only weeds and bushes on the ground were cleared. There is an approach road, there were branches that required trimming for vehicles to pass through, and trimming took place. No trees were cut. They have shown photographs of some other areas”, Mehta said.
Accepting the affidavit saying that trees are not being cut, the court said that no specific interim directions are needed to be issued. The bench also said that no trees will be cut till the next hearing. “Suffice it to say that as stated by the concerned respondent, no trees have been cut since the order dated November 7, 2019 and shall not be cut till the next date of hearing”, the bench said in the order.
Statement by #MMRC Spokesperson. pic.twitter.com/VFfsfdinCA
— MumbaiMetro3 (@MumbaiMetro3) July 25, 2022
It is notable that the MMRCA had already issued a clarification saying that they were only trimming/pruning low-lying branches of trees to facilitate the movement of trailers carrying Metro 3 coaches. They had also informed that necessary permissions from competent authorities for pruning trees were already obtained.
The corporation has also informed that out of the allotted 30 Hectares of land at Aarey, 5 Ha has been preserved as a green patch. Depot work is happening in the remaining 25 Ha land by following Govt orders and in adherence to court orders, MMRCL had said.
Some coaches have already reached the site, and trials have already started with them at a 3 km stretch from the Aarey site to Marol Naka Metro station.
