Mumbai Environmentalists Protests for Cutting Trees: 29 in Custody 

Mumbai: After a huge ruckus by environmentalists protesting for cutting trees inside the Aarey Colony, police arrested 29 activists including 6 women who have been sent to custody for 14 days, an official said here on Saturday. Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray said that he would deal with the matter (of tree felling) in the best possible manner after the next government would come to power. “We shall deal with the murderers of Aarey Colony forests, if required even amend the law for it,” Thackeray said briefly during a media conference.

Earlier on Saturday, after huge protests the police clamped prohibitory orders in Aarey Colony and detained round 75 activists who were protesting against the cutting of trees since Friday night. Later, 29 were arrested and slapped with charges of unlawful assembly and obstructing government officials from duties. The protests were to oppose the felling of around 2,646 trees and the activists claimed that more than 1000 trees have already been cut off. The opposition intensified its protest after the Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed all petitions regarding the felling of the trees by Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (MMRCL) in the green zone to construct a car-shed for the Metro-3 project. A division bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Bharati Dongre also declined to declare Aarey Colony as ‘forest’ or quash the BMC). (IANS)

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