While the trees in Aarey forest have been cut, the protest does not seem to fade out. Even on Sunday October 6, the green activist had organised protest at various places in Mumbai. Now, it has been accounced that a special bench of Supreme Court will be hearing the matter on October 7 at 10:00 AM. The details regarding this are sketchy at the moment but we shall be following up with the updates in a timely manner.
Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) started the chopping in Aarey area in the bid to make the car shed for the Metro 3 line. The protestors and activists have gathered in large numbers to protest against this move and trying to stop the authorities from doing so.
As per the activists' claim, the trees are being cut illegally. As per the rules, the trees cannot be cut post-sunset. They also that as per the rules, after the tree committee gives a go-ahead to the cutting of the trees, the order has to be uploaded on a government website and the trees can be cut 15 days after posting the permission on the website. While the latter is being contested by the Metro authorities, there is no clarity on why the Metro officials wanted to chop down the trees right in the middle of the night.
Activists have been protesting against this act since the night of October 4, following which section 144 has been imposed in Aarey and surrounding areas. Section 144 of CrPC bans unlawful assembly of people. This continued to be in effect all through Sunday. As per reports, as many as 38 people have been arrested so far. Of these 29 were sent to judicial custody on October 5 and were able to get bail only on October 6.
There are many political parties such as Indian National Congres, AAP and Shiv Sena that have expressed discontent over the cutting of trees.
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