The news of Metro 3 Car shed being shifted out of the Aarey forest is one of the happiest updates of this petition. Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government signed the beginning of removing construction material from the car shed site. Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) project director SK Gupta has told the media that "the car shed site is being closed and secured". He added that scaffoldings, shuttering, rebar and construction debris are all being cleared out and pits being filled so that they do not remain a safety hazard.
Environmental activist Zoru Bathena, who campaigned against the previous government's decision to cut the trees at Aarey for metro car shed expresses his delight at the news. Zoru says, "We are delighted that Govt is taking steps to move the Depot out. And eagerly awaiting for these steps to result into formal orders. We are also fighting to ensure forest tag & higher levels of environmental protection for entire Aarey. The Govt has announced they have taken positive steps for small areas. And we are looking forward to the entire area getting protected step by step. "
The long battle fought by environmentalists, activists, tribal communities, citizens including students, housewives, senior citizens, teachers, professionals and people from all walks of life for saving the only surviving green lungs of Mumbai has found a temporary victory.
Aarey forest is a large expanse of verdant forest adjoining Sanjay Gandhi National Park which is spread across 103 square kilometres and is a part of the Western Ghats eco-system. In the last 70 years, out of 3,262 acres allotted to the Aarey Milk Colony, about 1,316 acres were parcelled out to public and private entities. This land has been allotted, denuded, and constructed upon for purposes that range from Mumbai's water supply complex, Force One centre, state-run fisheries institute, and the Film City. If this was not enough, many more projects are planned inside this forest which includes Slum Rehabilitation Project, Metro Bhavan, RTO Office, Zoo just to name a few.
Metro car shed is one of the many commercial activities threatening to concretise the pristine Aarey forest. Shifting the metro car shed out of Aarey is a beginning towards reclaiming forest land back from the commercialisation. But our fight to save the green spaces of the city is far from being over and shall continue till the complete forest area is protected under the reserved forest.