Why should we save Aarey?

While the world has been crying hoarse over the fires in the Amazon rainforest, there’s an urgent environment cause closer home. Mumbai is a city that never sleeps. Thousands of people come here everyday to earn a livelihood and stay back in the hope of a better future. The rising population has also burdened the city’s infrastructure. The number of houses and cars have increased due to the rise in the number of residents. This also affects the environment. Because of this the government wants to build good public transport system so that people would chuck their cars and use buses, trains, metros and monorail to travel. But all this is not so easy. The government wants to build a shed or a manufacturing unit for metro at Aarey. And for that they would cut more than 2700 trees. Last week, environmental activists, celebrities and aware citizens came out to protest a move by the government. They formed a human chain to protest the cutting of more than 2700 trees in the Aarey colony. Aarey colony is not called a jungle but it acts like one. It has a diverse flora and fauna and is also home to a few tribes. Cutting 2700 trees would destroy this area. The combined trees and plants act like a relief to this polluted city. The protests are growing stronger with activists reaching courts to stall the project. Hopefully, the government would come to an amicable solution so that both the development and environment is not affected. Fun fact Tourists are not allowed in the Aarey after 7 pm as there are various animals in the locality including leopard, jumping spiders (mostly found in Myanmar), spotted deer, rusty-spotted cat, jungle cat, palm civet, small Indian civet, Indian mongoose.