Aarey forest: Activists, Opposition slam govt for suppressing voice, hail SC order

After the Supreme Court asked authorities now not to cut bushes in Aarey Colony, activists and opposition leaders slammed the Maharashtra government for “haste” in slicing bushes and “suppressing” the voice of activists and the common man.
Activists and leaders of the opposition Congress and NCP on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court’s order restraining authorities from reducing anymore bushes in Aarey Colony here to make way for a Metro vehicle shed.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan and NCP leader Supriya Sule hit out at the BJP-led nation government for “haste” in cutting timber and “suppressing” the voice of activists and the frequent man.
The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) started hacking trees from Friday night time to make way for the automobile shed, hours after the Bombay High Court dismissed four petitions filed by way of NGOs and activists, difficult the selection to permit felling of timber in the prime green lung of the city.
“The haste with which the Maharashtra government acted over the weekend in cutting bushes is condemnable,” Sule said.
“The Supreme Court choice on Aarey is welcome. However what is disturbing is the admission of the Maharashtra Government in the SC that the fundamental quantity of timber have already been cut,” the Lok Sabha member from Baramati tweeted.
“I condemn the act of state government to start felling of timber in the night final week. The final decision was now not even out but still the authorities rushed for axing the trees,” she added. Chavan additionally hit out at the Devendra Fadnavis-led country authorities over the slicing of timber in Aarey.
“The Supreme Court’s order is a “tight slap on the face of BJP-Shiv Sena government that has tried to suppress the voice of the frequent man and activists protesting towards Aarey tree felling,” the senior Congress chief said.
Prof Avkash Jadhav, head of the records branch at St Xavier’s College here and trustee of the city-based KAASH Foundation, welcomed the court’s selection and demanded a probe by means of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into cutting of timber at night ultimate Friday.
“An SIT have to be set up to look into the site of Aarey now and discover the real damage done,” said Jadhav, who remaining month helped college students of his college to write a letter to British adventurer Bear Grylls for in search of his help to quit felling of bushes in the Aarey Colony.
The team ought to contain activists and environmental professionals from different states and contributors from non-governmental bodies, he said.
“We demand robust motion in opposition to the MMRCL authorities and all these who took the cowl of darkness at night to arbitrarily cut bushes on October 4,” he said.
Jadhav stated MMRCL’s Managing Director Ashwini Bhide take responsibility “for appearing to be a proactive challenge director of performing her obligations of axing the trees at night”.
In its restraining order, the apex court docket said will have to study the whole thing, and posted the be counted for hearing on October 21 earlier than its woodland bench.
Jadhav said via October 21, the Maharashtra government and the MMRCL must give a specified account to the Supreme Court of how they allegedly “used the country equipment in opposition to its very own citizens, crushing all civil liberties underneath the guise of development”.
He said Bhide claimed that the order to reduce bushes was launched on September 13, which gave the authorities 15 days to take action.
“But, if the be counted used to be subjudice and came earlier than the Bombay High Court on October 4,is it not contempt of courtroom to come with the axing notification before the high court’s decision used to be out?” he asked.
Tasmeen Shaikh, member of the Aarey conservation group, said, “Every time the MMRCL came up with some defence for putting up the automobile shed venture of Metro-3 at Aarey land, we countered it logically.”
The MMRCL later eliminated its “lame defence” from its internet site to avoid controversy, she claimed. “I experience the only defence left with the MMRCL for pushing the Metro-3 car shed in Aarey is that the site is right according to ‘Vastu Shastra’,” she said sarcastically.
The MMRCL’s “failure” to supply a logical reason in the back of tree cutting for auto shed is a basic example of “non-application of idea through our realized bureaucrats”, she said.
The Metro authorities have defended tree felling via contending that it is constrained only to a small region in Aarey Colony, and is vital to make sure a modern transport device for Mumbaikars.
The proposed automobile shed for the Metro-3 line (Colaba-Bandra-Seepz) will occupy 33 hectares.