Activists misleading HC in Aarey matter, says MMRC

Mumbai: The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) has reiterated its claim that Aarey Milk Colony is not a forest. The body alleged that activists have been trying to mi-slead the citizens and the Bombay high court against the Metro-3 line. However, the activ-ists have denied the allegations and stated that the matter regarding the Aarey car shed is still sub judice.

In its recent publication, the MMRC stated that “In 2015, a technical committee constituted by state government studied several alternative sites for car depot, and pros and cons of each alternative and recommendation of the technical committee were ascertained. Further, taking into consideration the likely delay in taking over the land of the alternate site due to litigations, it was jointly decided by the state go-vernment, MMRDA an-d MMRC to have Metro-3 depot at Aarey.”

The metro rail body also alleged that the NGO Vanashakti was misrepresenting the previous National Green Tribunal (NGT) ord-ers since the Aarey has been notified as a ‘non-forest’ area outside the eco-sensitive zone of Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

However, the NGO has denied the allegations stating that it has produced the government’s own old records re-garding directions to declare Aarey as a forest and the matter is sub judice.

“The matter of Aarey being a forest or not is being heard in the court. It is for the court to decide. We have submitted the relevant documents. The MMRC should not comment and try to malign the activists and NGO working towards saving Aarey when the matter is sub judice,” said Stalin Dayanand, project director of NGO Vanashakti.