Aarey shed gets nod, appals adivasis

Mumbai: The state government has given the final nod to allotting 33 hectares of the Aarey Milk Colony for the metro carshed project in the Development Plan 2034. Despite various measures proposed by the state government to mitigate the project’s impact on environment, the adivasi community from Aarey is still not convinced and will be launching a huge protest in the coming days.

Activists have also claimed that while the Bombay high court had observed that an inquiry should be conducted for the land available in Kanjurmarg for the shed, but the state government hastily changed the land notification of Aarey. The HC will be hearing the matter of Kanjurmarg land on Monday.

The tribal community, mostly the Warli tribe, has asserted that earlier a major plot of the green cover has been already lost to an NSG training centre, film city and housing complexes. “We have been living here even before the dairy was set up in 1951. Since then, we have only seen exploitation of our green space. The state
government should respect the rights of the adivasis,” said Prakash Bhoir, leader, Shramik Adivasi Sanghtna, an adivasi group.

According to officials from the state urban development department, various measures will be taken to mitigate the environmental impact on Aarey Colony. These include providing a groundwater recharging facility in the depot and ensuring that the underground water table does not get disturbed from construction activities. However, environmentalists believe that these steps are not efficient when it comes to preventing the flooding of the Mithi in Aarey.

“There are three flooding streams flowing through the 30-hectare plot in Aarey. Now when the land is filled from construction, the floodwater is bound to flow downstream. It will create worse situations in MIDC, Mahim, the airport area and other low-lying areas. The state government has not provided any solution to that,” said Zoru Bhathena, an activist.