Infra to hit 1.2K trees: ‘How can we send objections during lockdown?’

Activists irked as BMC issued notice on June 6, sought response by June 19

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) last month proposed to cut and transplant approximately 1,282 trees in Mumbai for various infrastructure projects, including the Metro, road works and the construction of Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR). Activists have complained that citizens were not able to submit their responses and objections to these proposals due to the lockdown.

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Since June 6, BMC has been issuing public notices for cutting trees in the city. Prior to this, the last public notice for cutting trees was issued on March 18. In a public noticed issued on June 9, BMC sought suggestions and objections from citizens over cutting and transplanting 1,282 trees. The last day for submissions and suggestions was June 19.

According to the notice, around 320 trees are affected by the various Metro projects in the city; 326 trees are affected by road works; 146 trees are affected by the Railways’ stabling yard; and 382 trees are affected by GMLR. Among the major projects, tree cutting has been proposed for Metro line 6, Metro line 2-B and GMLR. Thirty-five trees will be cut and 169 transplanted for Metro line 6. Sixty-five trees will be cut and 51 transplanted for Metro Line 2-B. For GMLR, 103 trees will be cut and 279 will be transplanted.

However, citizens and environmental activists have said that since BMC issued its tree-cutting notice during the lockdown, few were aware of it.

Activist Zoru Bhathena said, “Notices are being issued during the lockdown and citizens are not able to get the information. Also, if citizens come to know about the same, one cannot go and visit the site to give suggestions or objections. On one hand, BMC is saying ‘do not go out for non-essential work’, and on other hand, they are bringing these notices. This does not fall under the essential category unless there is an urgency to cut or transplant a few trees.” Bhathena has said that he will be submitting suggestions and objections, and if these are not considered, he may explore legal options.

Earlier, in the first week of July, another city -based environmental activist Kunal Birwadkar had written to BMC, urging the civic body to stop cutting trees during lockdown as citizens cannot lodge their objections due to travel advisories.

An official from BMC’s garden department, requesting anonymity, said, “We are doing the exercise in a very transparent manner by uploading the public notices on the website.”

Jitendra Pardeshi, chief of BMC’s garden department, was not available for comment despite repeated attempts.