The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider listing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) plea seeking permission to cut additional trees for the Goregaon–Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project, subject to compensatory afforestation.
A bench of Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran took note of the BMC counsel’s submission that more trees need to be felled to facilitate the next stage of the project, and said the matter would be considered for listing.
Earlier, on August 14, the top court had allowed the civic body’s tree authority to fell 95 trees for the first phase of the GMLR project.
The BMC, which is implementing the ambitious project, had assured the court that it would strictly follow the compensatory afforestation norms. This includes geo-tagging of saplings planted in place of the felled trees to ensure compliance and monitoring.
The GMLR project aims to connect the Western Express Highway with the Eastern Express Highway, cutting travel time between Goregaon and Mulund by nearly an hour. The corporation is seeking the apex court’s nod to proceed with additional tree felling required for the project’s progress.
