Even on Saturday, Bombay High court was of no help to the environmentalist protesting against cutting of trees in Aarey forest. The stay plea was dismissed by the court.
Currently, section 144 has been imposed in the Aarey and surrounding areas. For those unaware, Section 144 of CrPC bans unlawful assembly of people.
According to activist, almost 1500 trees have been cut so far and the cutting is still in process.
According to police officials, 29 people, including six women, were arrested on Saturday in connection with the protest against the felling of trees in Aarey Colony.
Update: All 29 people that were arrested have been sent to judicial custody.
As per the activists' claim, the trees are being cut illegally. As per the rules, the trees cannot be cut post-sunset. They also state 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.
Many have taken to Twitter to express their anger and disappointment.
The narrative is that people who have asked for trees not to be cut are against Mumbai Metro. The truth is every mumbaikar is for the Metro, the request was to shift the Metro shed to a place where there would be no need for axing full growing trees. #SaveAarey #Sad😢 https://t.co/9bnns9gi5h
— Raj Nayak (@rajcheerfull) October 5, 2019
Cutting trees at night is a pathetic attempt at trying to get away with something even those doing it know is wrong. #Aarey #GreenIsGold #Mumbai
— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) October 5, 2019
The Film City, which is 20x the size of the proposed Aarey car depot, lies right at the edge of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
— Aashish Chandorkar (@c_aashish) October 5, 2019
Mumbai can be so much greener by demolishing Film City and afforesting the entire area.#ShutDownFilmCity - please RT @karanjohar. https://t.co/kxw7Wn2Rao