Navi Mumbai: Nearly 3,000 trees to be cut at MIDC for road works, environmentalists shocked

NAVI MUMBAI: Environmentalists and tree lovers are extremely disturbed and shocked to recently find out that nearly 3,000 trees are to be chopped or replanted in various areas inside the TTC (trans thane creek) industrial zone for various road works.
The greens have also expressed disappointment that the advertisement for calling public objections and suggestions was given in a small regional newspaper which has less readership, as compared to other popular dailies.
"Tree cutting of this large magnitude requires the approval of Maharashtra Tree Authority. While MIDC has stated that some of these trees will be replanted elsewhere; we know about the dismal survival rate of replanted trees. It is a shame to be killing 3,000 trees. Some of the tree cuttings have already begun inside MIDC," said the NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar.
Just a fortnight ago, various political parties including the NCP and BJP had protected the proposed cutting of 400 trees for a Vashi-Kopri flyover of NMMC.
BJP activist Rohitt Malhotra commented: "Recently state minister Jitendra Awhad had protested the proposed killing of 400 trees for the Vashi flyover. Earlier, the Sena government had promised to protect hundreds of trees inside Aarey forest. So now, how can the state government all the massacre of 3000 green trees inside MIDC?"
While the MIDC executive engineer R Rathore was unavailable for comment despite calling him several times over phone, another senior MIDC official said: "Multiple road projects, such as concretization, will be taking place in different MIDC zones. The total road length is over 40 km. Some of the trees will be replanted in order to save them."
RTI activist Anarjit Chauhan said: "When there are already tar roads available, it makes sense to repair them with bitumen, instead of further widening them through concretization, leading to killing of trees. The lime deposits in forests are also quarried in order to provide material for cementing of roads. Hence, it is against the environment."
Some alert local people have complained to NatConnect following which Kumar dashed out a communique to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray to intervene and stop “this murder of trees”.
Kumar expressed his shock that the green cover was being eliminated as it came in the way of concretisation. “We wonder how MIDC allowed this,” he remarked.
“At a time when we need a large number of trees, we are blindly chopping whatever greenery is left,” NatConnect complained in its mail to the government.