It seems that Aarey is not the only place where the trees would have to be cut for making way for the metro. According to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for the construction of Metro line 2B about 1134 trees will have to be axed and another 1670 transplanted. The 2B metro line will run between DN Nagar to Mandale. It is a 23.643 km stretch, which will have 22 stations.
The Metro line 2B will be an elevated corridor that will provide interconnectivity between the existing Western Express Highway, Eastern Express Highway, Western Railway, Central Railway, Mono Rail, Metro Line 1 (Ghatkopar to Versova), Metro Line 2A (Dahisar to D N Nagar), Metro Line 4 (Wadala to Kasarvadavali) and Metro Line 3 (Colaba to SEEPZ).
On December 9, the BMC tree authority on December 9 conducted a hearing of suggestions and objections regarding the cutting of 52 trees and transplanting 292 trees for the construction of this metro line. However, a day later on December 10, the residents in Bandra, Kalanagar–MTNL area complained that the notices were stuck on the trees only on Monday evening. Moreover, these notices did not have vital information such as where to file complaints or the timeline to submit suggestions and objections. In addition to this, residents complained that they had no information on the earlier notice which is said to have been issued on by the BMC on November 28. The trees have been given numbers and a common notice includes which tree would be cut and which would be transplanted.
It is noteworthy that over 2700 trees were cut in Aarey region for the construction of Metro 3 line. There was a huge furore regarding the axing of trees in the area at that time. A day after Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha-Vikas Aghadi government came into power, they had put a stay on the construction in this area and said that they will review the project and then inform of their decision.
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