According to members of Aarey Conservation Group — which is supporting NGO Vanashakti, that has filed a plea at NGT to get Aarey Colony declared as a no development zone — the counsel for Vanashakti immediately raised objection to the intervention application by this group.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday rejected an intervention application filed by Mumbai Underground — a group of citizens from South Mumbai — after they submitted an application stating that the Metro 3 car depot should come up at Aarey Colony as planned.
According to members of Aarey Conservation Group — which is supporting NGO Vanashakti, that has filed a plea at NGT to get Aarey Colony declared as a no development zone — the counsel for Vanashakti immediately raised objection to the intervention application by this group.
"Even we are surprised how did suddenly a group appears and wants to file an intervention petition supporting Metro car shed in Aarey. Till date no citizens group has supported the Metro shed inside Aarey, and their entire application seemed to be resembling the one filed by Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) and that was pointed out by the counsel of Vanashakti," shared a member.
Speaking to dna, Michael Pereira of Mumbai Underground — who submitted the intervention application — said: "Our application was rejected and we are waiting for the detailed order of NGT to understand if we will get a chance to present our argument. We are a body of like minded people and there are many senior retired bureaucrats, who are supporting us and part of our group."
He added that along with two of his friends he decided to file the intervention as they believe that Metro is an eco-friendly mode of transportation and should come up in Aarey.
"Lot of people are thinking we have been propped up by MMRC but it is not true. We have done a lot of analysis and its true that MMRC has been open with the information they have and have shared it with us," said Pereira.
Biju Augustine — a member of the Aarey Conservation Group, which has been crusading against the car shed — said that the issue was not of stalling an important transportation project but was protesting against the fact that a project should not destroy an ecologically sensitive area.
"In fact, the environment experts on the committee formed by the chief minister too have given views against having the car shed at Aarey," he concluded.
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