This is my last update on change.org as I declare Victory of on our petition. I express my heartfelt gratitude towards our Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray who responded to this petition and who stood by his words and fulfilled his promise of shifting metro car shed out of Aarey and declaring Aarey as reserved forest within just a year of commencing his office. I convey my gratitude to all 7.35 lakhs supporters who have encouraged me to continue fighting the battle to save our Aarey forest. Your comments, feedback, and suggestions were always taken into due consideration. Thank you once again for being a part of this movement. The two landmark decisions of declaring an 808-acre parcel of Aarey land near the Sanjay Gandhi National Park as a reserve forest and Shifting Metro-3 car shed out of Aarey Forest shall be regarding as exemplary for future governments who wish to work towards sustainable development. The decisions to drop the charges against young students who were protesting against indiscriminate cutting of the trees in Aarey and to protect the tribal community of the forest shall always be applauded and revered. To the politicians and decision-makers of this city, I’d like to draw your attention to the fact that every city is a habitat for humans, trees, animals, birds, insects, rivers, mountains, skies and the seas. The built environment should account for the well being of all the above inhabitants who are equal stakeholders in this city’s prosperity. The built environment should complement with the internal environment of all the inhabitants which includes body, mind, and soul. This internal environment can function efficiently only when the oxygen saturation is to its optimum. The increased levels of oxygen help us perform better, giving energy to both our mind and body. Unfortunately, Mumbai’s air quality index fares poor on the global scale making it 4th most polluted city in the world. The main aim of any development is increasing the performance and the productivity of its human resources which can never be achieved irrespective of its robustness if the city maintains its poor air, water, and natural resources’ quality. Every infrastructure which is built at the cost of the environment is being built at the cost of the health, productivity, and prosperity. Hence, we request you to please continue saving our environment while progressing with the development plans. Our city, Mumbai is one of the rarest cities in the world which is gifted with beautiful topographic richness all accumulated in one place ranging from rivers, lakes, mountains, sea, and a forest that makes for a perfect tourist destination. The solution to the city’s infrastructure development does not lie only in creating new infrastructure but also in properly channelizing and capacity building of existing infrastructure. To make Mumbai, future-ready, 2020 comes with a plethora of clues and pieces of advice for us. The future cities are the ones battling natural calamities like floods, famines, drought, cyclones, and pandemics propelled by the global climate crisis. Hence, mitigating carbon footprints, maintaining good open spaces to built-environment ratio and prudential use of natural resources should be the priority. One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways which are also carbon negative that can tackle all the above problems is maintaining harmony between nature and humans. Post Covid, companies are restructuring their workplaces and encouraging their employees to continue functioning from home. If work from home model of working is going to become the new normal, we need to restructure the transport infrastructure and not burden the city with claustrophobic unplanned transport infrastructure. While I thank Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray and his government for protecting the green lungs of Mumbai, I would like to draw the attention of the current government towards few concerns that may still mar our dream of a sustainable city: 1. Strict against burgeoning illegal encroachment in and around Aarey and Sanjay Gandhi National Park which spiked during the lockdown period. 2. While Zoo, Slum rehabilitation project, RTO Office proposals have been shifted out of Aarey Forest, there is yet no clarity on Metro Bhavan. We request to shift even Metro Bhavan out of Aarey. 3. Sanjay Gandhi National Park to be protected from infrastructure projects which include building two tunnels under the park, a ropeway crisscrossing the park, a multi-modal corridor, just to name a few, all of which threaten the forest ecosystem. 4. 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 the 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. 5. 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. 6. 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. 7. Restoration and Regeneration of city’s rivers that are turned into sewage channels. 8. Ensure sustainable development of the city where the biodiversity has equal preference along with human development. Through this petition, I want to acknowledge and express my gratitude to one and all who have been a part of this historic battle that has saved our pristine forest. 1. Thousands of Mumbaikars who braved heavy downpours and organised protest marches, long human chains, rallies demonstrating their democratic rights over the natural resources which the then government was usurping under the pretext of development. 2. 2.5 lakhs citizens who sent their objection letters and signatures against the construction of Metro car shed in Aarey. Not to forget hundreds of citizens who attended public hearings organised by the tree authority concerning Aarey Metro car shed. 3. Spread across 27 padas (hamlets), people from the Warli, Kokna, Mallar Koli, Katkari and several other indigenous tribes residing in the Aarey Colony strive to keep their traditions, cuisine and culture alive, amid the encroaching urbanisation. 4. 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. 5. A group of Law students including Rishav Ranjan on Saturday approached the office of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi seeking immediate intervention to stop the felling of trees in Aarey forest in Mumbai. 6. Supreme court of India for taking suo moto cognisance of the matter and ordering a stay on the cutting of the trees. 7. School children who came to Aarey with posters and protests reclaiming their right over the natural resources of the city. 8. Petitioners and environmentalists who were running around the courts to save our forests. 9. Citizen activists who were fighting the Save Aarey movement from all fronts. 10. Experts, architects, city planners, and scientists for contributing their valuable technical expertise. 11. Volunteers who helped with social media duties, coordinating with the lawyers, writing blogs, organising meetings, making videos, designing posters, etc. 12. People from across India and the world who came out in support of saving Aarey. 13. Celebrities from Bollywood, stand-up comedians, influencers, filmmakers, artists, etc. who stood by the movement. 14. Special thanks to media for helping in creating the awareness and disseminating the truth. 15. Heartfelt gratitude to all environmental groups across the city and the country who came out in support of saving Aarey. 16. Members from Change.org and Jhatkaa.org 17. 7.35 lakhs supporters on this change.org petition. 18. Special thanks to the ex-environment minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh and all politicians who came actively in support of saving Aarey forest. 19. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray, Environment Minister, Aditya Thackeray and the Maharashtra Aaghadi government. 20. Last but not the least, Honourable Ex-Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis for uniting Mumbaikars for a common cause. This victory is not of any project, person or policy, it is the victory of democracy. It is the victory of people’s power, activism, enthusiasm, and most importantly their love for the Mother Nature that has saved their pristine Aarey forest from the bureaucratic greed, concretization and commercialization. The petition ends here but not our commitment to protect our environment. Thank you once again, everyone.