Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday announced that a 600-acre land parcel in the Aarey Milk Colony near Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) would be reserved as a forest. The area of the reserved forest excludes the land on which the controversial car shed for the 33.5-km-long underground Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro Line 1 corridor is to come up. The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who said, the forest would be the first example of a “huge jungle” being conserved at the centre of a megapolis, an official statement said.
Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray, Forest Minister Sanjay Rathod, Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde, Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar and others were present for the meeting, the statement said.
The chief minister instructed during the meeting to safeguard the rights of adivasis (tribals) while the area is reserved as forest.
The area to be excluded from the forest will be ascertained after seeking suggestions and objections from citizens, the statement said.
Constructions of all types, roads, slums, adivasi pockets and government facilities will be excluded from the first phase of the initiative, the statement said.
The slums within the area will be rehabilitated immediately, the statement said.
Constructions of all types, roads, slums, adivasi pockets and government facilities will be excluded from the first phase of the initiative, the statement said.
Activists at Aarey car shed
The slums within the area will be rehabilitated immediately, the statement said.
“I can see that this is a cover-up to take possession of the private land of some people. It is not appropriate,” Fadnavis told reporters in Nagpur. “The Metro 3 project, which is already delayed, will be in problem because of this decision,” he added.
“The project will be economically unviable and its cost will be recovered from the common commuters,” Devendra Fadnavis said. He said if the Metro 3 car shed is moved out of Aarey it will be “a move to keep Mumbaikars bereft of the benefits of the Metro line”.
Stalin D, director, NGO Vanashakti, said, “It is a welcome decision as Aarey was not recognised as a forest in the past seven years. With regards to Metro Bhavan, it is a building which can be constructed in any part of the city. They do not need to enter Aarey.”
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is looking at constructing a ground-plus-27 floor Metro Bhavan, a command and control centre on 2.03 hectares in Aarey. The state had invited suggestions and objections, on the change in land-use from no-development zone to ‘Metro Bhavan and Metro Rail allied users’, in August 2019. Following which, it had received 2,563 objections on the notification.
AB Patil, deputy director, town planning said, “We had conducted the hearings online recently. The report will soon be sent to the state government.”
Surjitt sahani
