Environmentalists invoke Chipko movement, hug trees in Vashi to protest tree felling

Navi Mumbai: Drawing inspiration from Sundarlal Bahuguna’s iconic Chipko movement, environment lovers hugged the much-chopped tree at Vashi ostensibly to clear the view for an advertisement hoarding.

The full-grown almond tree which provided shelter and was home to a host of birds has been chopped for the first time in 2023 and repeatedly thereafter and today the bare trunk without any branches presents a pathetic look, said environment watchdog NatConnect Foundation Director B N Kumar.

Tree lovers who gathered on Saturday evening also hugged the tree trunk to express their love for trees and send a message to the authorities that trees are an integral part of the city’s life.

The activists silently held banners with slogans such as– Save Trees, Save Biodiversity – and caught the eye of passersby.

Several motorists, on their way to attend Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s public meeting at Vishnudas Bhave auditorium, stopped by briefly to observe the silent protest.

Activist Madhu Shankar, who complained to the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), said there must be a close watch on the destruction of trees that is happening under public glare that too on a main road like this one at Ganesh Tower.

“I appeal to the Municipal Commissioner to make his teams accountable for such brazen acts of harming the environment,” said activist Anarjit Chauhan.

NatConnect’s Kumar pointed out that “Navi Mumbai, touted as the city of the 21st century, must set an example of environmental care when we all are aware that climate change is real”.

As it is, the per capita tree cover is less than one in Navi Mumbai against the global norms of at least six, and on top of that the city is unable to save the existing trees, he regretted.