In a bid to tackle the ongoing social media campaigns and criticism against the proposed Metro carshed inside Aarey Milk Colony, chief of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) Ashwini Bhide has been actively engaging on the micro blogging site- Twitter, defending the project and emphasising the need of Metro in a city like Mumbai.
Bhide, as well as the Mumbaimetro 3- the official Twitter handle of MMRC have been regularly tweeting information, graphics as well as clarifications about everything related to Metro including court cases and accusations made by several environmentalists under #AareyAikaNa, which has now almost snowballed into an online campaign.
“There are total 3,691 trees in Metro-3 depot land. We will retain 1,045 trees. As per Tree Authority approval 461 trees are to be transplanted and 2,185 are to be cut. Six times more trees means 13110 trees to be newly planted. Please join us in planting them. #AareyAikaNa,” Bhide tweeted on September 8.
She even clarified that the plea to declare Aarey land as forest before Bombay High Court was dismissed on October 26, 2018 and special leave petition for relocation of carshed to alterate locations including Kanjurmarg was dismissed by Supreme Court on April 15,2019.
In another tweet she mentioned, “Some say that objection is to Metro carshed, NOT to Metro. Answer is that Metro line cannot function without a carshed which is an integral part of the system.”
Using #AareyAikaNa, she even raised the issue of how Mumbai city desperately needs enhancement of its rail-based public transport network. “Suburban railways carry 80 lakh passengers per day. Once Metro network is commissioned it would carry about 45 lakh people by 2031 and 1 crore people by 2041 as per MMRDA CTS,” was one of her tweets.
Taking on the environmentalists she even tweeted that ‘MCGM, Tree Authority have given approval to cut 24472 trees from 2013 to 2017. 10074 trees among them to be cut and 14398 trees to be transplanted. What is their status? Has anyone heard any noise against it? Why now? Why so much?.”
TWITTER TUSSLE
- As per Tree Authority, 461 trees are to be transplanted and 2,185 are to be felled
- Using #AareyAikaNa, the issue of how the city desperately needs enhancement of its rail-based public transport network was raised
