Dabbawalas join steps with activists to pray for Mumbai’s trees

As part of a protest, a group of 70 to 80 people walked from Shivaji Park to the Siddhivinayak temple. Nirmal Harindran

Activists from the Aarey Conservation Group (ACG) and other residents of Mumbai went on a padyatra (march on foot) to Siddhivinayak Mandir on Sunday to seek divine intervention to save the city’s trees. They were joined by some representatives from the Dabbawala Association, who also believe in the cause.“There has been rampant tree cutting in the city, not just for the construction of the metro but also in the name of trimming. Through the padyatra, we prayed for the survival of the city’s trees. We also wanted to raise awareness among people and they respond better to positive things rather than protests and stopping things,” said Priya Mishra, a member of ACG.

A group of 70 to 80 people walked from Shivaji Park to the temple carrying banners and four trees. At the temple, they conducted a puja for these trees, which will be planted in Aarey next week. “It was a symbolic gesture to highlight that government agencies that take up tree plantation drives do not follow up on them or check their progress. We will look after these trees and constantly monitor their growth. We hope people will realise through this how much time it takes for trees to grow to their full length,” said Mishra. The group then split into three to visit other religious places including Haji Ali Dargah in Worli, Shri Guru Singh Saheb Gurudwara in Dadar and Holy Family Church in Andheri. Some members also visited the 500-year-old St John’s Church in SEEPZ, which was open for its annual feast on Sunday.

“No religion allows destruction of nature. People should know their role on the planet and how they need to protect the trees from being lost needlessly. We have only reminded people of the government’s promises and how they have not been fulfilled,” said D Stalin, Director of the NGO Vanashakti. The Dabbawalas joined the cause as they also believe that the city has lost too many trees and any further loss will cause irrevocable damage. They will be taking it further by appealing to their customers to save trees. For this, they plan to attach tags to their dabbas saying ‘Save Aarey’.

“The city is already a concrete jungle and we are cutting more trees. People generally go to the temple to ask something for themselves but we went today to ask for our trees. We will take it further by appealing to our 2 lakh customers to join the effort to save trees. If things are to come to the worst we are ready to even do a Chipko Movement of the 1970s to save the trees,” said Subhash Talekar, spokesperson and president of the Dabbawala Association.