75-acre green zone under threat in Thane, says activist

Mumbai: After a huge part of Mumbai's green cover in Aarey Colony was approved for the construction of a car shed for the Metro-4 corridor, the green cover in Thane is now under threat.

A 75-acre green zone in Thane city has been proposed for building a car shed for a Metro line and the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has decided to modify the ‘green zone’ to ‘land reserved for Metro car shed’ in its development plan.

The town planning department has also issued a public notice asking for objections and suggestions from the public.

The TMC’s general body had already passed a resolution last year for change in reservation in the Thane city development plan. The resolution states that the 75-acre (30.40-hectare) green zone in Kavesar and Vadvali village of Thane be changed for land reserved for the metro car shed.

However, environmental activists are against this mass destruction of green cover. Rohit Joshi, an activist from Thane, said, “The resolution passed by TMC itself is not abiding by all the rules and I have documents proving that. The land that has been proposed for the metro car shed is a wetland and construction is not allo-wed there. A lot of dumping has been carried out in Kasarvadavali.”

Mr Joshi added that he has already sent a legal notice to the authorities and has decided to file a public interest litigation against construction of the Metro car shed in Kasarvadavali.