The Life Of A ‘Forest'

Mumbai’s Aarey Colony has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, be it the decision of the Bombay High Court rejecting petitions to declare Mumbai’s Aarey Colony a protected forest or the felling of trees within hours of a high court decision or the framing of criminal charges against those defending the tree felling. Although the Supreme Court restrained the authorities on October 7 from cutting any more trees in Aarey Colony, it was already too late.

- Geetanjoy Sahu

The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation informed the court that it had already cut 2,141of the 2,185 trees identified for felling. Meanwhile, the 29 arrested citizen protesters were released on bail, but here again the damage had already been done, with serious criminal charges filed against them under four sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Aarey Colony, spread over 1,287 hectares of land, is home to around 450,000 trees, a number of endangered species and 27 tribal hamlets. Over the past five decades, local and state authorities have clandestinely parcelled out hundreds of hectares of Aarey Colony to various commercial and development projects. The Mumbai Metro car shed project, which was assigned 33 hectares of land, is only the latest of these. Opinion in the city has been divided over questions of the economic viability and environmental cost of addressing the transportation needs of the city. But another area of serious concern is the undemocratic and obscure methods employed to expedite the completion of metro rail projects.