Alternative locations for car depot not properly surveyed: Environmentalist tells National Green Tribunal

An environmentalist opposing the car depot of ColabaBandraSeepz Metro line three at Aarey Milk Colony on Tuesdayfiled a reply in National Green Tribunal to the intervention application that was filed by Mmbai Metro Rail Corporation MMRCNGO Vanashakti in the reply filed with the NGT has stated that few newspaper reports on the public outrage against carrying out developmental activities such as the Metro Car Shed and the allied activities within Aarey Colony The copy o the newspaper reports were also submitted to the NGTIt has also been stated in the affidavit that the survey of alternative locations for car depot has not been properly doneThe detailed survey of alternative locations as MMRC alleges to have undertaken is gravely defective as it lacked the most important environmental concerns This is the very same reason that due to public outrage the State Government constituted a committee through a Government Resolution GR dated 11th March 2015 consisting of environmental experts namely Dr Rakesh Kumar and Mr Shyam Asolekar who are part of this Six Member Committee The experts are of the opinion that no elaborate site visits or research was invested in other sites that were available and the environmental experts would not select Aarey as the site for the Metro Car Depot owing to its ecological significance Hereto annexed and marked as ANNEXURE R2 is the said opinion by the two above named expertsThe affidavit also points out that Aarey Milk Colony is a NoDevelopment Zone or Green Zone The point number 7 states The proposed area for the Metro Car shed in Aarey is specifically declared as a lsquoGreen Zonersquo in the current Development Plan The Intervener Corporation is completely silent on the existing Development Plan which shows Aarey as a lsquoNo Development Zonersquo or Green Zonersquo and therefore have surreptitiously continued to suppress the very important facts in an attempt to mislead this Honrsquoble Tribunal Attached hereto and marked as ANNEXURE R3 is the relevant extractmap that declares the said plot in Aarey as lsquoGreen ZonersquordquoThe applicants have also stated in their application that the car shed is needed at the end of the project ldquoThe car shed is something that would be needed at the end of laying of the lines which would take at least four years if and only if all the other issues and project execution problems do not ariserdquoThe applicant has also replied in the affidavit about the leopards They said With respect to Para No 24 I say and submit that it is shocking to go through the statements of the Intervener Corporation that the leopards are not coming out of the SGNP boundaries It is pertinent to mention that animals neither comprehend nor care much for boundaries their territories lie despite these boundaries imposed on them It shocks the conscience of the Applicants on the Intervener Corporationrsquos deduction on Leopards inhabiting the Sanjay Gandhi National Park It is seen that the Intervener Corporation have completely disregarded the fact that being contiguous to SGNP a numbers of Leopards currently inhabit Aarey itself as resident Leopards To sanction the felling of more than 2000 trees is to trample over the living space of these majestic animals over and above the loss of fullygrown trees Contrary to the claim of the Intervener Corporation the guidelines dated 09022011 issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests Respondent No 3 for demarcation of Ecologically Sensitive Zones around National Parks and Sanctuaries use buffer zone and ESZ in an analogical manner and therefore is a subject matter under the Environment Protection Act 1986rdquo