Lie: The government says that it will not allow any harm to the environment as it will plant many times more trees than each tree cut.

Fact:

1. Structurally complex forest like aarey that has taken centuries to be built cannot be substituted with new plantations. The mature trees of a forest existing in unison with their other indigenous colleagues have deep exotic root architectures that can sequester carbon (and other nutrients, plus water) more effectively than stand-alone trees which will be planted as a part of the compensatory plantation. Besides, the different sizes and shapes of the leaves in a forest ecosystem absorb different types of pollutants whose cumulative effect is seen in a cleaner, filtered, and cooler air in the area around the forest. To expect saplings to do the job of a full-grown tree is like expecting a newborn baby to take care of a family's expense just like the earning member. A sapling requires water, nutrients, and care before it becomes mature enough to perform the role of climate mitigation like its elderly counterparts. 

2. Trees are not some static poles that can be easily shifted from one place to another. Trees form a multi-layered biodiversity ecosystem in the area where they stand firm. Right from their roots that support millions of microbes to their stem, leaves, flowers, and fruits, every part of a tree anchors millions of species that are dependent on the tree. MMRCL says that it will conveniently transplant the trees but how will it transplant leopards, scorpions, birds, bugs, and the biodiversity that each tree harbours?

3. BMC and MMRCL have a very poor history of tree transplantation drives. The BMC’s tree authority permitted the felling of 25,018 trees between 2010 and 2016, revealing a right-to-information (RTI) response. However, it failed to provide records for the number of trees replanted or transplanted in their stead over seven years.

4. Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRC) has not been able to save most of the trees affected by the metro rail. There were 1060 trees transplanted by the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) at seven different locations inside Aarey, out of which 680 are dead which means 64 per cent trees transplanted are dead. The Bombay high court-appointed committee remarked that the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) has not carried out the transplantation of trees affected by the Metro-3 project efficiently, that many transplanted trees did not show signs of sprouting, while the metro rail body has also delayed geo-tagging the affected trees, as recommended by the committee. It slammed MMRC for not using modern machines to transplant trees.