Mumbai: When the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced that it would axe 770 trees along the Eastern Express Highway (EEH), it took just a day for over 1,600 people to sign a petition to protect the trees.
As per the BMC, nearly half the trees along the road are to be cut and the other half are to be transplanted to make way for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s (MMRDA) elevated road between Ghatkopar and Thane.
HT first reported the matter on Saturday, when the BMC posted a notice setting October 16 as the deadline for sending in suggestions and objections about the fate of the trees. On Sunday, Naheed Contractor, created a petition on change.org in protest of the tree-felling, and by late Monday the petition had garnered over 1,600 signatures.
“This is a 12 km stretch that is going to be affected. The green patches that we once had on this route are fading away slowly–we cannot remove over 700 trees just for another lane of cars to jam the highway,” wrote Contractor in his petition.
Among the trees to be axed are the striking Tabebuia rosea trees, or pink trumpets trees which bloom during the winters in Vikhroli and Kanjurmarg. When in blossom, the pink flowers give the route a charming look, resembling the famous Japanese cherry blossoms.
“I love those flowers so much that I make a trip there to see them a few times in the winter,” said Minoo Sukhia, an Andheri resident who claims some of the trees were planted by her former workplace Godrej. “It would be devastating to see them go. There has to be a better way to build the flyover and reduce the number of trees being affected. Transplantation too does not have a great track record.”
A BMC official said that the civic body would hear responses to the tree-cutting on October 16.