Be practical: HC to people against cutting trees for Metro
The Bombay High Court today asked all people opposing the destruction of mangroves for Metro rail project to be practical. "There was a need for Metro. The traffic in Mumbai is becoming bad to worse," the HC said. "Metro should've been in Mumbai 30 years ago. You (the government) are doing it 30 years later," it added.
The Bombay High Court today asked all people opposing the destruction of mangroves for Metro rail project to be pragmatic. A division bench of Justice V M Kanade and Justice A M Badar were hearing a petition moved by the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, which is in charge of constructing the rail link between Colaba and SEEPZ in Andheri, and told those opposing that "there was a need for Metro. The traffic in Mumbai is becoming bad to worse."The bench was reacting to the statement made by an advocate representing those opposed to cutting down of trees in the city. The advocate said that there can be no underground construction that can be carried out in Coastal Regulation Zone 3 areas. Justice Kanade said, "Metro should've been in Mumbai 30 years ago. You (the government) are doing it 30 years later." He also added that there was a need to maintain balance between environment and ground reality. The court said that thousands of people travelled between north and south Mumbai each day by local trains. Many die in trains while several others die in road accidents. "The Metro III project will prove very useful for these people so everyone should first consider the ground situation," Justice Kanade said.The corporation needs to cut 108 trees to construct two stations including the Bandra Kurla Complex station. A lawyer for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation told the court they had "taken loans from Japan for the contruction of Metro rail and each delay over tree cutting was causing huge losses". They added that they were ready to replant 4000 trees to compensate for the 108 trees they were going to uproot.