Trees chopped for Metro projects dumped at Mumbai mangroves, says NGO

Trees cut for various metro projects in the city are being dumped at mangrove forests in Borivli and Dahisar, claimed an environmental activist on Friday.

In a complaint filed with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRC), Harish Pandey from New Link Road Residents’ Forum said that six to seven trucks have been dumping wooden logs at the mangrove patch behind Ganpat Patil Nagar slums in Borivli for 10 days.

The logs were of the trees that the MMRC cut down for the metro projects, Pandey claimed.

He also said that over 500 empty alcohol bottles and plastic bottles were also found in the ecologically sensitive area.

“Residents said that MMRC contractors were dumping trees at the site which were cut for metro projects,” said Pandey.

On May 18, the Supreme Court upheld the Bombay high court order and allowing trees to be cut for constructing 27 metro stations. Accordingly, MMRC contractors began chopping trees and expects tree cutting and expects to complete it before the monsoon sets in. Trees are also being cut for Metro VII and Metro II (A).

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials told HT that they did not dump branches of trees that they trimmed at Borivli and Dahisar ahead of the monsoon on the mangrove site.

“We don’t know from where the wood and the bottles are being dumped at the mangrove land but we have directed our officers to visit the site and file a report on it. We will also enquire the residents of Ganpat Patil Nagar about the issue,” said a senior civic official.

The Bombay high court had banned destruction of mangroves across the state in 2005.

“Tree cutting is being conducted for absolutely essential number of trees in a legally permitted manner,” said a spokesperson from MMRC. He, however, refused to answer if they had been dumping logs of chopped trees on the mangrove forest.