Bombay High Court on Wednesday, asked the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) to file its reply to a petition filed by Kunal Birwadkar.
Refusing to grant a stay on the cutting of trees for the Metro 3 project between Colaba and Santacruz Electronics Export Processing Zone(SEEPZ), the Bombay High Court on Wednesday, asked the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) to file its reply to a petition filed by Kunal Birwadkar.
Birwadkar has alleged that the authority has been felling trees that were initially not supposed to be chopped. The MMRCL is felling trees arbitrarily, without applying their mind, he said. He had thus urged the court to grant a stay on the further cutting of trees until his pleas are heard. Recently, after the Supreme Court upheld the order of the high court allowing cutting of trees, the authority has started chopping off fully-grown trees in south Mumbai.
The high court had in its order said, "The approach we intend to adopt is to strike a balance in the protection of the environment and the development in question so that prosperity on both counts can be achieved. If a harsh stand as canvassed by petitioner is accepted, then it would be impossible to have any development for the betterment of citizens."
The court has appointed Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority and Deputy Registrar to oversee the compliance of re-plantation, transplantation of trees. Compliance reports have to be submitted monthly to a committee of two judges. Over 5,000 trees are proposed to be cut in various areas of south Mumbai to pave way for the execution of Colaba- Bandra-SEEPZ project.
The court had allowed MMRCL to cut the trees on an undertaking by the corporation that for each tree cut, another would be planted at the same spot after the construction work is over. This would be in addition to the three saplings that the authority would plant in suburban Mumbai for every tree they cut. The holiday bench has now posted the matter for further hearing on May 26 and MMRCL has been directed to file its reply by then.
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