Days after Bhide’s transfer, govt panel says ‘norms followed before felling trees at Aarey’

The car shed, meant for the 33.5-km underground Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro corridor, has been proposed on a 33-hectare land, previously reserved as a no-development zone, inside Aarey Colony.

Within a day of coming to power, Uddhav had on November 29, last year, ordered a stay on the construction work. Further, after dropping cases against those who had been booked for protesting against the felling of trees, he had, last December, formed a four-member committee, headed by Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Manoj Saunik. Apart from examining the feasibility of shifting the car shed out of Aarey Colony, the committee was also asked to probe if all procedural formalities and norms were followed before the felling of trees.

Sources said that the committee’s report, which has now been submitted to the government, specifically mentions that the MMRCL felled the trees after following requisite norms. It has also pointed out that the chopping of trees was undertaken only after the Bombay High Court, too, had rejected a plea to stay the hacking of the green. It has observed that procedures followed before the felling of trees were in order, both legally and technically.

Sources, however, pointed out that the panel has raised questions over the necessity to fell trees in the dead of the night, contending that the project had already been facing delays.

Bhide, who belongs to the 1995-batch of IAS officers, had served as MMRCL’s MD from 2015 till January 2020. On January 22, Uddhav had appointed Ranjit Singh Deol (1998-batch) in her place. She is yet to be given a new posting.

While Bhide remained unavailable for comment, a senior MMRCL official said: “The Mumbai civic body’s Tree Authority had approved a proposal for tree felling on August 30, 2019. The same day, we (MMRCL) had brought all machinery and manpower at the site for the work. But it was decided to wait since the matter had been challenged in the HC.”

“While the HC had first stayed tree felling, it lifted this stay on October 4, after the agency shared all project details with the court. Since the litigants in the matter had not sought time to challenge the HC’s decision in the Supreme Court during the hearing, we went ahead with felling of the trees.”

The committee, meanwhile, has recommended the lifting of the stay on the construction work at Aarey, contending that there wasn’t a viable alternate location for the car shed. It has also observed trees have already been damaged on account of the work and the same cannot be reversed.

Contending that the shifting of the car shed at this stage would only lead to further delays in the commissioning of the underground Metro and result in cost escalations, it has argued for retention of the project in Aarey itself. Agreeing with the argument that enhanced construction activity in and around the green belt was a threat to the region’s rich flora and fauna, it has, however, recommended that the untouched green belt in Aarey be earmarked as a no-construction belt.