Residents of Versova came together to protest against the felling of trees along the lane connecting Fisheries University to Yari Road. According to them, the BMC’s Road Department has been mercilessly hacking down 50 to 80-year-old trees because they were obstructing traffic.
Residents however claim that the trees were unnecessarily sacrificed. Shweta Chandra, an advertising filmmaker said, “There is absolutely no traffic problem here and the road had been widened a year ago.
However, the BMC has once again given permission to cut 35 more trees. We are not going to allow any more trees to be cut down and will file a PIL against BMC for such an irresponsible act.”
Chandra also pointed out that the stretch has not recorded a single accident due to the trees and neither does it handle heavy traffic at any point of the day or night. “I don’t understand why the BMC is so eager to cut these trees,” she questioned.
Another resident Arpita Chaterjee said, “The contractor had already cut a particularly large tree when we approached the police and got the felling to stop. But somehow the contractor managed to get BMC permission and is about to saw off the few remaining trees as well.”
Sankalp Achrekar, a resident and an entertainment industry professional remarked, “If the BMC gave permission to the contractor to cut the trees, they also needed to transplant the tree somewhere else. But they are completely clueless about this.
When we wanted to file an FIR against this activity, the police refused to regesiter it, saying, the contractor is permitted to cut the trees.” This was confirmed by Suresh Nalavade, senior police inspector, Versova Police Station, who said, “Since the contractor had all the necessary permissions, we will not record any complaint from the residents.”
When contacted, Chandrashekar Rokde, deputy municipal commissioner, gardens, said, “After the Versova residents complained, I spoke to the contractor and found out that he does have the required permission to cut the trees.
However, we will once again examine the permission copy to understand the exact reason for clearing the trees.”