Mumbai: Litigations delaying Metro car shed project, MMRCL tells Bombay HC

The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited MMRCL on Thursday told the Bombay High Court that the construction of the car shed at Aarey Colony was getting delayed and causing loss of public money due to litigations defending its plan to cut more trees at the site than earlier proposedMMRCL a nodal agency told the HC that due to the court cases it could not cut down trees in 2019 and this has now led to an increase in the number of trees that are required to be cut for the project at suburban GoregaonIn 2019 the MMRCL had sought permission from the tree authority of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC to chop 84 trees However due to petitions filed in HC and later in the Supreme Court a status quo was orderedAfter the SC gave the green signal to cut trees the MMRCL filed an application before the tree authority to cut down 177 trees As per the MMRCL the number of trees at the Metro car shed site has increased in the past four yearsAn activist Zoru Bhathena last month moved the HC challenging the notice issued by the BMCs tree authority on the cutting down of the 177 trees Bhathena claimed that the notice was in violation of the Supreme Court order of November 2022 which allowed for the removal of only 84 treesThis matter remained pending for four years thanks to the petitioners During these four years four monsoon seasons have passed So at that time what were saplings only and were not falling under the definition of trees they grew naturally and have now become trees MMRCLs counsel Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the courtThe MMRCL in its affidavit filed on Thursday said the car depot was the heart and soul of the Metro line The depot work is required to be completed by October 2023 Even a single day delay to the project would cause a loss of Rs 587 crore to the public exchequer it saidAlso read HC asks probe agencies to not reveal identity of sexual offences victims in chargesheetBetween its first application to the BMCs tree authority and till date the MMRCL said additional trees have grown and plants or shrubs which at the time would not be termed as trees have now grown into treesDue to this the total updated number of trees that require to be cut has increased said MMRCL alleging that petitioner Bhathena was delaying the public projectThe BMCs tree authority in its affidavit reiterated the MMRCLs stand that from 2019 till now many wild trees have matured and have reached 20 to 25 feet in heightA division bench of Acting Chief Justice S V Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne posted the matter for further hearing on February 23The SC had in November 2022 permitted the MMRCL to approach the BMCs tree authority to fell 84 trees at the Aarey Colony for the construction of the car shedThe order was passed on a bunch of petitions filed by law students and environmentalists against the proposed felling of treesThe Metro car shed project at Aarey Colony in suburban Goregaon has been embroiled in controversy with environmentalists holding protests against the indiscriminate felling of trees in the area which they claim is a forested patchAfter coming to power the Uddhav Thackerayled Maha Vikas Aghadi government had in 2019 said that the car shed would be constructed at suburban Kanjurmarg and not Aarey ColonyIn June 2022 the Eknath ShindeBJP government reversed the decision and said the car shed will be constructed at Aarey Colony onlyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever