GMLR project puts 1,524 trees on chopping block, activists warn of irreversible consequences

MUMBAI: The proposed felling of 1,524 trees for the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project could further aggravate Mumbai’s rising heat and pollution, undermine its ecological balance and threaten the health of residents, environmental activists have warned, urging the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to withdraw the proposal

MUMBAI: The proposed felling of 1,524 trees for the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project could further aggravate Mumbai’s rising heat and pollution, undermine its ecological balance and threaten the health of residents, environmental activists have warned, urging the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to withdraw the proposal.

In a letter to the BMC’s Tree Authority, the Watchdog Foundation, a civic and commuter rights non-governmental organisation (NGO), has objected to the proposed felling and transplantation of trees for the fourth phase of the GMLR, stretching from the Western Express Highway in Goregaon to Airoli Toll Naka in Mulund, as well as the improvement of the junction of the Eastern Express Highway and the GMLR.

Trustees Nicholas Almeida and advocate Godfrey Pimenta said the loss of the trees could have irreversible consequences for the city’s environment, affecting biodiversity, air quality and urban temperatures.

The foundation’s objection follows a Tree Authority notice published on October 22, inviting citizens to submit objections and suggestions on the proposal. Pointing to the unusually hot and humid conditions prevailing in Mumbai in October, the foundation said the city needed more green cover to combat rising temperatures and pollution, rather than infrastructure projects that would further deplete it. “Development cannot come at the cost of destroying the very environment that sustains us,” Pimenta stated, adding that the proposed loss of trees raised questions about the environmental cost of infrastructure development.

The foundation has urged the civic administration to explore alternatives that minimise tree loss and protect the city’s remaining green cover. It has also appealed to elected corporators to oppose the proposal, arguing that the interests of the environment and residents must be safeguarded.

According to the BMC notice, the proposal has been submitted by the executive engineer of the GMLR Bridge Department.

However, a civic official from the BMC’s bridges department said the trees could not be saved as they stood in the way of the project. “These trees are coming in the way of the GMLR project and there is no option but to fell them. Nothing can be done to save them,” the official said.

The civic body has invited objections and suggestions within seven days of the notice’s publication. A hearing has been scheduled for October 30, from 4.30pm to 6pm, at the office of the superintendent of gardens and tree officer in Byculla.