The Issue

Mumbai is facing a grave environmental threat. More than 700 mature trees along the Eastern Express Highway corridor are proposed to be cut or transplanted for an elevated road project. This comes at a time when the city is already reeling under rising temperatures, shrinking green spaces, worsening air pollution and repeated heatwave warnings.

These trees are not mere roadside objects. They are Mumbai’s natural air-conditioners, oxygen banks, flood shields and pollution filters. Mature trees cool surrounding neighbourhoods, absorb carbon dioxide, reduce dust, shelter birds and biodiversity, and help prevent urban flooding.

Yet, instead of increasing green cover in a climate-stressed city, authorities are considering removing hundreds of healthy trees that have served citizens silently for decades.

Why It Matters to Us

Mumbai’s tree cover is already dangerously low. The city has roughly one tree for every four persons, far below the thumb rule of at least three trees per person needed over a lifetime for healthy oxygen balance.

NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar said Mumbai’s per capita tree cover needs to be increased at least twelvefold, yet urban planners are looking at axing 700 trees.

“We all witnessed desperate families searching for oxygen cylinders during COVID. Nature gives oxygen free every day through trees. Have we forgotten that lesson so soon?” Kumar asked.

Advanced Locality Management Group (Powai) chairperson Pamela Cheema warned: “Every tree felled today will worsen tomorrow’s heatwave. Every canopy lost will raise temperatures, pollution and public health risks.”

Urban experts worldwide recommend the 3-30-300 formula:

3 trees visible from every home
30% tree canopy in every neighbourhood
300 metres maximum distance to accessible green space
This should be Mumbai’s future — not mass tree felling.

The Ask

We urge Devendra Fadnavis, the Government of Maharashtra, and Mumbai civic authorities to:

Immediately halt the cutting/transplantation of over 700 trees.
Disclose all approvals, permissions and objections transparently.
Appoint independent ecological and engineering experts to examine alternatives.
Redesign or reroute the project to save the maximum number of trees.
Adopt a citywide urban forest mission to improve Mumbai’s tree cover.
Mumbai needs more shade, more oxygen and more green lungs — not fewer.

Please sign this petition now.

Let history remember that we saved Mumbai’s trees, not sacrificed them.