The Tree Authority of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday sent back the proposal of tree cutting at Aarey forest for car-shed of Metro-3. The authority sought details of action taken on objections and suggestions received from citizens on the proposal of cutting and transplanting of around 3600 trees from the proposed site. The authority members had visited Aarey forest on Tuesday and interacted to citizens. Two experts from the authority were also part of the visit. After the visit, experts, as well as members from Shiv Sena and Congress, were against hacking of trees for car-shed. While sending back the proposal, members asked details of the objections and suggestions received from citizens. BMC had received around 82,000 objections and suggestions. Stalin D, an environmentalist, who heads the NGO Vanashakti said that it seems that they brought in the proposal without proper hearing of the objections and suggestions. "I am thankful that Tree Authority displayed sensitivity of the issue and showed concern of common citizens. The authority has done one part of its duty diligently," said Stalin. Even Experts of BMC's Tree Authority observed that there are unique and heritage tree in Aarey forest and these should be retained. They found that some of the trees are very old and these trees are harboring many orchids on it. However, Stalin said that he was sad that the administration brought in the proposal without going through the appropriate channel. "It needs to understand that 82,000 people gave their feedback. If we calculate other platforms like Change.org and others, more than 4.5 lakh people participated in the process," said Stalin. He added that such kind of outrage was not seen for any other issues and this needs to understand.

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