As the new government swears in and brings new hope to the people of Maharashtra, what brings a particular excitement is the fact that it is probably for the first time in our country that environment became a political issue over which election was fought and won! It is time we remind our new Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray about his promises that he made to save Aarey forest. Here are some of Mr Thackeray’s tweets before the election:
“The upcoming government will be our government, and once we come to power once again, we will deal with the murderers of Aarey forest in the best possible manner."
"Aarey is the most important issue for me right now. Whatever is happening today, whatever was happening yesterday and whatever will happen in future, I'll take detailed information of what the situation is and will speak firmly and directly on the issue,"
Expounding further to our Chief Minister’s promise to Save Aarey, here are some of the few demands from Aarey Forest which he needs to address at his earliest:
1. Entire Aarey colony area to be declared as a reserve forest.
2. Drop all the charges against 29 students who were detained and booked under various sections of Indian Penal Code who were protesting the cutting of trees at Aarey on the night of October 4th, 2019.
3. Merge Aarey Forest with Sanjay Gandhi National Park and ensure that a contiguous forest patch is re-establish between the two. Aarey falls within the eco-sensitive zone of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and shares its forest diversity.
4. Protect the local tribal community from the fear of eviction due to developmental projects.
5. Remove all the illegal encroachment in and around Aarey and Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
6. All the activities like constructing Metro Car Shed, Metro Bhavan, Zoo, Slum rehabilitation project, Filmcity, RTO Office to be taken out of Aarey Forest.
7. Sanjay Gandhi National Forest to be declared as a reserve forest. No development activities of any kind should be allowed inside the forest
8. Make a “Social Impact Analysis” mandatory before undertaking any infrastructure project. This analysis encompasses Green Audit which assesses Environmental and Cultural Impact caused by the project. Unlike the Impact Analysis done by the earlier government, this analysis shouldn’t be done by government-appointed expert sycophants who merely sanction government’s wishes through their technical endorsements. The committee should comprise of scientists, environmentalists, local community representatives, citizens, independent experts, bureaucrats, and government representatives who come together and provide solutions that serve the larger interests of the city in terms of development and environment. This arrangement prevents the time and resources wasted in the legal processes and protests and ensures cost and time effective development of the city.
9. Regulate the indiscriminate cutting of trees across the city. The average tree: human ratio required is 7 trees per person whereas in Mumbai we have 1 tree between 4 people. There is a substantial rise in proposals for tree cutting over the past two years, the tree authority of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) issued permissions for the removal of 8,775 trees in 2018, revealed a study of newspaper advertisements issued by the BMC last year which adds to an average loss of 24 trees per day in 2018. In 2019, between January 1 till April 5, 12 tree felling notices were issued by BMC, affecting 3,588 trees or an average of 37 trees per day.
10. Strengthen Tree Authority from being a quiet spectator to rampant trees cutting and issuing permissions without fuss to cut trees to a more authoritative body capable of taking independent actions against illegal and haphazard chopping of trees.
11. Restoration and Regeneration of the city’s rivers that are turned into sewage channels.
12. Ensure the sustainable development of the city where the biodiversity has equal preference along with human development.
13. Improve overall Air Quality Index of Mumbai and abolish its tag as one of the topmost polluted cities in the world.
Citizens, please feel free to add if you have any demands concerning the green lungs of Mumbai and its environment.