Aarey case: Construction of Metro car shed may continue but no more cutting down of trees, says SC

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#MumbaiMetro

Mumbai/New Delhi/IBNS: The Supreme Court on Monday directed that the Metro car shed project in Aarey colony area in Mumbai can continue.

​However, the top court directed that the freeze on cutting down of trees will continue.
The Mumbai Metro earlier this month said it has cut down 2141 trees at the Aarey Milk Colony area but confirmed that it will honour the Supreme Court order and will not chop down any more trees at the site.

Hearing the petitions against the felling down of trees to make way for a metro project in Mumbai Aarey colony, the Supreme Court had earlier asked the Maharashtra government not to carry on with axing anymore.
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The top court said this after the state government admitted that the required number of trees for the project have already been axed.

Activists started gathering at Aarey colony after a video showing a tree being cut went viral, alleging that act illegal.

After the video went viral, Shiv Sena scion Aditya Thackeray, whose party is an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), spoke in favour of the activists and supported their resistance to “illegal” felling of trees by MCGM calling the act shameful.

Environmentalists have been protesting the decision to build metro rail depot at the Aarey Colony which has more than five lakh trees.

The Bombay High Court had dismissed the petition against felling of trees saying it cannot intervene in the matter as the case is pending before the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal.
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The Aarey protests had attracted massive attention in Mumbai with celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar coming out in favour of the government.

(Published first in India Blooms News Services)