DNA Edit: NGOs stay off – Non-voluntary activism is not vigilantism

NGO activists in Mumbai have far exceeded their brief. To make a contrarian point is welcome in democracy, but to indulge in brinkmanship despite the high court dismissing a petition twice, is tantamount to blackmail. The Bombay High Court has refused to stay the clearing of trees at Aarey for Metro-3 carshed, saying it won’t be proper to restrain the project implementing authority when the court has twice dismissed the contentions of those opposed to the depot. The rejection by a specially-constituted bench was a second blow to the activists who wanted to stop the felling of over 2,600 trees till they could approach the Supreme Court. 

On Friday, the court had dismissed four petitions, including two challenging the approval of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) for chopping off trees for the carshed. The high court said as much. They believed that “the petitioners attempted to question the tree cutting at the site in not one, but two legal proceedings.” It also fined one of the petitioners Rs 50,000 for ‘voyagerism’. It is outrageous to suggest, as the NGOs are hell bent on proving, that what the MMRCL is doing is illegal. Far from it, it is trying to develop the mega metropolis, which is in dire need of improved public transport. As Delhi has demonstrated, with an ever-burgeoning population of migrants entering the city, the requirement of a Metro Rail, is mandatory. It is no longer just an option. To suggest that the authorities have shown too much haste in cutting trees and it had been done stealthily at night instead of day time is to ignore certain ground realities. 

Evening was found to be more suitable because any such activity in the morning hours was sure to have sparked off a law and order problem with vested interests either holding a dharna or organising sit-ins, inconveniencing daily commuters and office goers alike. As for waiting for a final directive from the apex court, a special bench of the Supreme Court will hear the case today. A two-judge bench was constituted after a group of law students wrote to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, seeking the top court’s intervention in the matter, calling for the cutting of trees to be suspended immediately. While it is difficult to predict what the apex court rules, the argument is undoubtedly meant to delay and hold up the project, without any gains to anyone, and certainly not the public. 

The project is losing about Rs 4.2 crore on a daily basis, which naturally comes at the cost of the tax payer. A project being financed by the Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA) and registered with the United Nations Framework for Climate Change (UNFCC) has adequate ecological guarantees, as the high court has observed. To suggest that the UNFCC is not as concerned about ecological damage as some of the learned NGOs is to put the cart before the horse. A mega project like this has all clearances and guarantees and if stalled, will send out the worst possible signal for Mumbai’s development.