Mumbai Metro may destroy another green patch

Aarey Colony, one of the last surviving green patches of Mumbai, is under severe threat now.

In Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the Aarey Milk Colony or Aarey Colony that can be accessed from Goregaon on the western suburbs and Powai on the eastern suburbs has its own importance in view of the unique biodiversity, archaeological heritage, tribal culture among other things. It is located on the periphery of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and adjacent to the Film City. It is a little-known forest of immense worth and now faces destruction.

The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, a joint venture special purpose vehicle of the Union and the Maharashtra governments, is planning a car shed inside the Aarey Colony as part of the Mumbai’s first fully underground Metro corridor - Metro 3 - running from Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ.

The Aarey Milk Colony has 3,160 acres owned by the Dairy Development Department of the Maharashtra government and quality fodder and grass are grown on about 400 acres. The colony has 30 stables and each one can house about 500 animals.

The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) recently approved the development plan 2014-34 and it has rejected the proposal to reserve part of the Aarey Colony plot for Metro car shed. However, the Maharashtra government takes the final call on the development plan.

Now, several groups have come together to protect the vast piece of land from destruction. The area is a grass and scrub environ with a few hillocks, possessing two perennial and one seasonal pond as well as many seasonal streams in the area. The vast pastures of Marutian para grass are maintained and harvested as fodder for cattle. This area also formed the nexus of human-leopard conflict between 2002 and 2004. The habitat is a biodiversity hotspot in Mumbai as it consists of scrub forest, seasonal freshwater marshes, hillocks, rocky outcrops, grass and scrub interrupted by human settlements.

A study on the biodiversity in the 12-sq km Aarey Colony by ecologists Rajesh Sanap and Zeeshan Mirza found that it is home to 76 species of birds, 86 species of butterflies, 13 species of amphibians, 38 different types of reptiles, 19 spider species and 34 different types of wild flowers.

The top of the chain was leopard and there are instances of wild cats from the SGNP straying into the Film City or the Aarey Colony. A survey conducted by the Mumbaikars for the SGNP initiative also found that there are 5-6 leopards in the Aarey Colony.

“For ages, the development has been accompanied by destruction. Be it the infrastructure development of real estate construction, we have been recklessly blasting hills in the name of quarrying for stone chips. Now comes the bad news that Aarey greenery, the only good surviving green cover of Mumbai, will be destroyed for a Metro car shed. Instead of going for shortcut, the urban planners should work on alternative sites for such projects. There are enough erstwhile textile mill areas which could be developed as car sheds. Or one could go for elevated car sheds above Metro and even the exiting suburban train network and commercialise these air spaces above railway tracks,” said BN Kumar, the founder of ecoparinaam.com, an environment protection-focused website.

According to him, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority must look for other land parcels that are in its possession or go in for an underground car shed. “Archaeologically it is very important. We have found several old articles which are of importance to the history and timeline of Mumbai,” said archaelogist Vinayak Parab. During surveys undertaken by the Centre for Extra Mural Studies (CEMS) of University of Mumbai, Sathaye College and INSTUCEN Trust, Parab and his team found several relics. They include artefacts related to the Shilahara dynasty between 750-1010 AD. “We could also unearth lot of data on local deities,” he said.

The area is very important and lot many findings are expected in the times to come. “It is important piece of nature. The SGNP, Film City, the Aarey Colony are important pieces of biodiversity. They must not be treated as a land parcel for development,” said Shardul Bajikar, a naturalist based in Mumbai, who is the director of Adventure and Outdoors Media Pvt Ltd.

“The government’s long-term strategy is to open up Aarey land for real estate development under some pretext or the other,” said environment activist Stalin Dayanand, who heads Vanshakti, an NGO.

Destruction of Aarey could lead to increased downstream flooding in the Mithi river due to the disturbance of the water retention regime provided by Aarey. The place also acts as a buffer to the SGNP where leopards still prowl in the dark. If this buffer zone is taken away, it can give rise to conflicts between humans and wildlife, according to Save Aarey initiative.

The Mumbaikars for SGNP (MfSGNP), which has been working with locals to reduce human-leopard interactions, too feels that Aarey is important for biodiversity. In fact, they have started Living with Leopards Network, and are educating the local population.

Two members of an expert committee appointed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had dissented and advocated that there should not be development in this piece of land in Aarey as it is important. The dissenting views were expressed by Dr Rakesh Kumar, scientist at National Environmental Engineering Research Institute and Shyam Asolekar, faculty, Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay.