The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (MMRCL), in a U-turn from saying all required tree felling have been carried out, has filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking permission to cut 84 trees on the 33-hectare plot earmarked for building the Metro Line 3 car shed in Aarey.
The MMRCL, which is executing a 33.5kilometre-long underground metro rail project, said the entire Metro-3 car shed in Aarey needs to be made available for execution works that are carried out in a “crashed time frame in order to achieve scheduled revenue operation dates,” a Times of India report said.
The MMRCL said in its application for the felling of 84 trees is pending before the Tree Authority since February 2019 and has asked the SC to direct the authority to complete processing the pending application.
“The entire Metro Line 3 project is scheduled for completion by June 2024. For keeping commission schedule of Line 3, substantial depot works have to be completed by October 15, 2023, to keep time for trial, testing, and regulatory inspections. Thus only 13-14 months are available for completing remaining works,” the application stated.
Earlier this year, the MMRCL on August 5 told the Supreme Court that no tree cutting has been carried out in Aarey forest in Mumbai, rather some weeds and branches were removed.
Senior advocate Chander Uday Singh, representing the petitioners, contended before a bench headed by Justice U.U. Lalit that tree cutting has been resumed in the Aarey forest region for the metro car shed project, despite the status quo orders.
The bench, also comprising Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Aniruddha Bose, noted that matter needs to be heard in detail. “What we will do is, we will order the status quo,” noted the bench.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing MMRCL, submitted that no tree cutting was going on in the area, and after the status quo order was passed by the top court in 2019, no tree was cut. He added that there were bushes, weeds, and shrubs, which have grown in the area, and they were being removed by the concerned authority.
Mehta emphasized that only trimming of certain branches were carried out citing the affidavit filed by MMRCL in the matter.
The apex court had taken suo motu cognisance of the protests against the cutting of trees in the Aarey car shed plot in 2019. It had ordered status quo on October 7, 2019, after Mehta gave an undertaking that no fresh felling of trees would be done till the next date of hearing. The status quo order had been extended from time to time.
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