Aarey Colony metro-shed: Fadnavis appointed panel likely to stand up for Mumbai's 'last green lung'

Looks like Mumbai’s green cover has just got a breather. The seven-member committee, appointed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to study whether the city’s greenest spot Aarey Colony should host a Metro car-shed, might just be leaning towards a green solution, Mumbai Mirror reported . The panel, headed by MMRDA chief UPS Madan, is likely to submit its report to the state government by next week. [caption id=“attachment_2259594” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Save Aarey twitter page. Twitter screenshot[/caption] “We can’t repeat the mistake committee in central Mumbai when mills lands were opened up for development. Aarey, one of the city’s last green lungs, will be protected,” Mumbai Mirror quoted an official as saying. According to a Times of India report , Fadnavis set up the committee in March after citizens protested against a proposal to construct the facility inside Aarey Colony. According to the report, the alternative locations include Bandra-Kurla Complex, Kanjurmarg, Mumbai Port Trust land in Wadala and Mumbai University’s Kalina campus. “It may also include a couple of other spots within Aarey Colony. We have identified a couple of areas that may entail less damage to vegetation,” Times of India quoted a member of the panel as saying. The stiff protest from the residents of the area has forced the government to look for alternatives in a bid to protect Mumbai’s green patch. A nod to the project could mean felling of a large number of trees to make way for the metro-shed. A ‘Save Aarey’ community has been working towards defending the “last green lung” of Mumbai. Here’s how the Save Aarey Community website, saveaarey.org describes the biodiversity of the region in a post. “Aarey Milk Colony is situated in Goregaon East, a western suburb of Mumbai, and is located off the Western Express Highway. It is at a distance 30 km north to Mumbai city. It covers a total area of 3160 acres of land which comprises of gardens, a nursery, lakes, an observation pavilion, picnic facilities, and milk plants. 16,000 cattle are reared on 1,287 hectares of land, and 32 cattle farms. It is one of the last remaining green patches of the city,” the page says. Even Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor has been promoting the ‘Save Aarey Movement’.

On 7 March, over 300 cyclists had protested against the building of a metro-shed in Aarey colony. ‘Save Aarey Movement’ has garnered support on twitter and the ‘Save Aarey’ twitter page has been spreading awareness on the issue. The committee might just manage to actually save Aaaey