The Bombay High Court (HC)'s Metro 3 Tree Committee has expressed its dissatisfaction with the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited's (MMRCL) recent announcement that it would only be possible to restore 40% of the trees that were cut down for the construction of metro stations.
Therefore, the committee has now decided to bring the case back to the high court.
In addition to this, MMRCL and the BMC have been instructed by Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Sarang Kotwal of the High Court to use half of the space outside Eros Cinema in Churchgate, South Mumbai, for tree planting.
The high court had previously ordered MMRCL to commit to replacing the trees and maintaining them until the project's completion on May 7, 2017. Hence, MMRCL is required to replace all the trees that have been removed at each station upon completion of its work.
Zoru Bhathena, Nina Verma, and Parvin Jehangir had made an appeal and highlighted the environmental impact of the project's removal of over 5,000 trees. Then, the committee was made to investigate the removal of tree cover for the Metro3 line by MMRCL and to return the case to the court in case of any discrepancies.
Recently, MMRCL told the HC committee that it would be possible to restore only 40% of the tree cover due to a lack of space at station locations. The judges reminded MMRCL of its commitment and warned of potential legal consequences.
The MMRCL told the committee that while their plans for tree planting are not yet finalised, they will strive to recover as much of the lost tree cover as possible. They mentioned that only two out of a total of 26 stations have completed tree restoration plans so far, and two more have draft plans.
The HC committee has requested that the junior committee visit these four stations with the petitioners and provide a report on the actual situation on the ground. The MMRCL has also been instructed to make their tree geotag data electronically accessible.
Share
Tweet
