Thursday’s Tree Authority meeting was marked by ruckus after Shiv Sena corporators shouted slogans against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporator Kaptaan Malik who had voted in favour of removing nearly 2,700 trees from Aarey colony. Mr. Malik is still in favour of removing trees and claimed he will file a police complaint against Sena leader Yashwant Jadhav for abusing him.
On August 29, the BMC’s Tree Authority passed a resolution to allow the removal of 2,646 trees for the Metro 3 car shed.
During Thursday’s meeting, presumably the last one before the model code of conduct for elections comes into force, no business could take place. The meeting had to be adjourned. “The chairman was on time and so were we, but the Sena members came in late. When we asked them about the delay, they started shouting slogans against me. Yashwant Jadhav abused me. The nominated tree experts too did not turn up. This is intimidation. I stick to my opinion; the trees should be cut if it is for the benefit of the people. The Metro will cut carbon emissions,” Mr. Malik said, while addressing the media.
Mr. Malik also pointed out that several trees would have been cut for the construction of Royal Palms Estate and Royal Palms Club in Goregaon near Aarey Colony years ago. “Shiv Sena’s Manohar Joshi was the chief minister when Royal Palms was inaugurated in 1995. It has a shopping complex, golf club for the elite. At least the Metro will benefit the people. It is not possible that no trees were removed for Royal Palms. Then why is Shiv Sena suddenly taking this stand?” Mr. Malik said.
Mr. Jadhav agreed that there was sloganeering. “In a democracy, we have the right to shout slogans. Yes, we called him and his party chor (thief) and dalal (middleman). He has allowed this loss to happen,” Mr. Jadhav said.
