Save Aarey

The land was used for a Aarey Dairy project in the late 1940’s, with some parts used to construct tabelas, grass plots for cattle and the remaining land is open forest, including the plot chosen for the metro 3 car shed. Within the area of Aarey Milk Colony is also included the 27 tribal padas and their farmlands, which blend into open forests and hills in some patches. Some patches are contiguous with the larger forest of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, such as the sections near unit 26, Maroshipada and Bangodapada, while in other sections, this contiguous connection has been interrupted by constructions such as Royal Palms, which came up in the 1990’s and stands between Aarey and SGNP. 

This doesn’t stop the leopards or birds from moving between Aarey and SGNP via Royal Palms though, and hence leopards who have adapted to the presence of such urban interruptions have been spotted at Royal Palms also, where they cross over to Aarey. 

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Over time, however, parcels of Aarey were happily handed out to various non-dairy projects such as Fim City, Force One, Mahananda Dairy, Modern Bakery, Bombay Veterinary College, etc, and so more and more constructions have been disturbing the fauna and flora. 

The Aarey main road, which used to be a toll road with restricted entry timings, was converted into a thoroughfare, which increased the traffic and put further pressure on the ecosystem. While Aarey and Film City have both experienced anthropogenic stress, these areas have wildlife and native and naturalised plants and over 500,000 trees, are the origin of two rivers, their tributaries and floodplains and Mumbai’s biggest lake, and they meet every definition of the word ‘forest.’ 

Royal Palms, which wasn’t part of “Aarey Milk Colony” on any past records, still has some forests and hills remaining, though lots of deforestation has already happened here. At Dindoshi Hills, north of Aarey, a private builder (Raheja) has fenced off a huge plot of dense forest measuring 500+ acres, which is deliberately being set on fire every year to burn the forest down. You can see the JCB excavators regularly at work at the sites where trees have first been chopped, and then burnt. This is another endangered forest located contiguously between the forests of Aarey, Film City and SGNP, which is being destroyed in clear sight of Mumbaikars, visible even from the Western Express Highway. 

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Forests need to be seen as combined, contiguous entities and wildlife corridors, and Aarey is the important southern end of Mumbai’s forest, and acts as a ‘buffer zone’ between city and forest. Likewise, Film City is also a forest, and the management of Film City has been known to torture the tribals living in the padas which have come under their jurisdiction. 

Likewise, the Fadnavis Govt. was planning to give extra land to Film City for further expansion, which would hurt this already wounded ecosystem further. Amid all this attack on Mother Nature by urbanisation, wildlife and plants have continued to thrive and fight for their survival, along with their human protectors, the indigenous adivasi people, and continue to exist together as a threatened but robust forest in the Southern chunk of the SGNP forest; this comprises Aarey Forest, Film City, sections of Royal Palms and Dindoshi Hills. 

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In 2020, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray got 812 acres of “Aarey Milk Colony” declared as a reserve forest, making the “Aarey Forest,” officially a legally protected forest. However, before the remaining forest declaration could happen, there was a change in government, and it is now unclear whether ‘phase 2 of forest declaration’ will happen.

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As ridiculous as it may seem, the matter of whether or not Aarey is a forest became controversial and reached the Supreme Court, where the matter is still being heard and no judgement has yet been passed on the same..

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In 2020, the ex-CM of Maharashtra officially got around 812 acres (328 ha) of Aarey officially protected as reserve forest in “Phase One” of the forest declaration. This area is now officially ‘forest’ as per govt records. 

Changing land status is a long drawn process, especially if there are encroachments on it already, and before the next phase of forest declaration could be made (including the jungle area being selected for metro 3 shed), the government fell under mysterious circumstances, before the metro shed plot could be given official protected forest status. 

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While the MMRCL only claims to be using 33 ha of land, using the metro as a pretext, the Fadnavis govt in 2016 had also removed 165 ha from the Eco Sensitive Zone of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, which is basically a buffer zone for wildlife that national parks are required to maintain, so that wild animals do not stray into human settlements. 

When the draft ESZ notification was presented to the public for the legally mandatory objection hearings, this area was shown as being in the SGNP ESZ. However, when the final notification came out, 165 ha were wiped out of the SGNP buffer zone without any explanation as to how or why. Vanashakti filed a PIL, which went on for many years without an answer from the govt. Finally, on affidavit, the govt. replied that the area removed was for “metro, temples (!!!), ETC. (!!!!!!!!!!!!)” 

The court even accepted the word “ETC.” on an affidavit filed by a government body, which is highly scandalous, and represents an alarming trend towards a failing judiciary. 

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So yes, 165 ha of Aarey Forest was removed from ESZ, 328 ha is legally reserve forest, and the remaining parts of Aarey include slums, tabelas, dairy, existing structures, adivasi padas and farmland. Incidentally, this 165 ha does not have the legal protection of an ESZ, but it is still an actual  forest with dense green cover and wildlife.

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The area of the Kanjurmarg land in question is 102 acres. 40 acres of this was allotted for Metro 6 car shed. The remaining land of over 60 acres lies vacant.

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In 2020 when the Maharashtra MVA government announced the building of metro 3 shed in Kanjurmarg, the Central Govt.’s Salt Dept. took the State govt to court (1) claiming ownership of the land and thus stalled a key part of their own project, given that Metro 3 is a joint venture between the State and the Centre.

The MMRDA had given an affidavit stating that it is willing to compensate the owner of the Kanjur land as and when ownership is decided. 

It would seemingly make no sense for the Central Govt. to stall its own critical project instead of expediting it, over a question of ownership of public land for public use.

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A lesser known fact is that in Jun 2019, the State govt. had passed a Government Resolution (GR) for Shapoorji Pallonji to develop a housing scheme on this very land (2). And herein lies the root of the whole problem.

The MH state govt. with the BJP at the helm prefers to develop the Kanjur land alongside private builders under Mumbai Development plan, rather than develop a better connected metro for Mumbaikars.

What is more important, Metro for Mumbai or residential development for private builders to profit from?

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In Jul 2022, the new MH state govt. has announced that they have written to their associates in the Centre to give the Kanjur plot for metro line 6 car shed. This time neither the Salt Dept., nor any other Central govt. agency has objected to use of this land for a metro project.

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Bringing the Metro 3 car shed to Aarey also paves the way for further development projects in Aarey Forest.

In Dec 2016, under the umbrella of “metro, temple, etc.” 165 ha of eco sensitive zone (ESZ) has been denotified by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC)(3) under orders passed by the Chief Minister (4), leaving actual use of land undefined.

While the metro 3 depot current design for Aarey is of 30 ha, 61.6 ha land has been acquired by MMRCL to account for future expansion, and there is no account of what schemes are being made to ‘develop’ over 100 ha (1 sq. km) of now denotified ESZ land.

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1 - The Centre’s salt department petitions the HC to challenge the collector’s order https://tinyurl.com/ToISaltDeptLitigationKanjur

2 - Govt. Resolution for housing development at Kanjur by Shapoorji Pallonji https://tinyurl.com/GRKanjurHousingScheme

3 - MoEFCC denotifies SGNP ESZ land https://tinyurl.com/Aarey165haESZremoved

‍4 - CM order to denotify SGNP ESZ land https://tinyurl.com/CMMoM-ESZandCommercial

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“Not everyone is free to protest.. What can I do?.. I am afraid to protest on the streets.. I cannot afford to go to jail.. I don't have a lawyer.. Can I do something online like sign a petition?”

Yes of course you can! :) You can also draw posters, help with writing, social media, photography, making calls, organising people together, speaking with friends and family, spreading truth and facts, educating people. You can even help with protest organising without actually standing in the protest and holding posters. All types of roles are possible. Even people from other cities and states have joined hands to help save Aarey. Just get in touch and contribute your time and skills and love for nature! 

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