Locals oppose demand to declare Aarey Colony a forest
THE CONFLICT
MUMBAI: Aarey Colony residents on Sunday protested against the demand to declare Aarey Colony a forest, saying the move would render them homeless.
Theprotest,whichwasorganised by an umbrella body of NGOS working for the rights of Aarey Colony residents, including tribals, slum dwellersandillegalencroachers,was attended by about 500-600 residents.
They expressed their displeasure overthedemandsof environmentalists that Aarey Colony be declared forest land. Following reports that 2,298 trees in the Aarey Colony would be cut down for construction of car depot for Colaba-bandra-seepz (CBS) Metro 3 project, local residents and environmentalists expressed their opposition to the depot saying it would lead to destruction of greenery and wildlife.
Harishchandra Dhuri of Janadharsamajikpratishthansaid, “We will be evacuated forcibly if the colony is declared a forest. We held a peacefulprotestonsundaytoconvey
to the government our opposition to any such move. We are all for saving the environment but not at the cost of ourhomes.”
Dhuri said his NGO was going
to file an intervention application in the ongoing case in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on declaring theareainthecolonyaneco-sensitive zone (ESZ).
“We are going to make a request to the NGT that any move to save bio-diversity should not affect us,” Dhuri said.
Environmentalists alleged that the protest was engineered by those who have vested interests in the colony. D Stalin of NGO Vanashakti said, “Some builders, who do not want their projects to be hampered, sponsored the protest. The residents are being misguided. They should knowthatlocalswerebenefittedafter Mahabaleshwarandmatheranwere declared ESZ.”
According to officials, the state government can declare the colony as either a protected forest (PF) or reserved forest (RF), as per the dictionary meaning of forest. It is not in favour of declaring the colony a forestcitingthecommercialinterests it might impact. MUMBAI: The NM Joshi Marg police have arrested Vishal Kokitkar, the 22-year-old son of a police constable, for allegedly filming a 27-year-old woman in the nude on his mobile phone.
Kokitkar, a resident of Lower Parel, is employed with a cellular service provider.
The police said the woman lives in a chawl at NM Joshi Marg along with her mother-in-law, brother in-law and her 3-year-old daughter The police said that on the night of December 8, the woman had returned home after attending a family function. “While she was changing clothes in the bath room of her ground-floor flat she noticed someone filming her from the window, which is high up on the wall,” said a police officer
The officer said she informed her brother-in-law, who rushed outside. He found his friend Kokitkar, who earlier used to live in the same building.
Kokitkar denied filming the complainant, and handed over his cellphone to her. She found no incriminating videos on it.
She took the phone, and with the help of two of her friends she retrieved the deleted data She found not one but multiple video clips of herself, taken while she was changing clothes. The woman then lodged the complaint with the NM Joshi Marg police and Kokitkar was arrested on Saturday.