There have been no reports of casualties. Neither is the cause of the fire known.
The Supreme Court of India has directed the tree authority of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to halt any further tree felling in Mumbai's Aarey colony without its permission. The order comes after the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) informed the court that there were no pending proposals to cut more trees in the area. The court has previously permitted the felling of a limited number of trees for a metro rail project, but has also imposed penalties on the MMRCL for exceeding its permitted limits.
Prakash Javadekar said the forest cover in the national capital has increased since then and public transport system has also improved.
The fight for Mumbai's green lung continues through the Ganesh Utsav festival.
Protestors urge President Droupadi Murmu to save the Aarey forest in Mumbai.
Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff.com meets the Mumbaikars protesting the decision to relocate the Metro carshed in the city's Aarey Colony forest, an ecological disaster.
Thackeray said the government had earlier declared 600 acre of Aarey land as forest but now it has been revised to 800 acre.
A bench of justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta sought a status report with pictures on plantation, transplantation and felling of trees in Aarey colony area of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Observing that the Mumbai Metro has made an attempt to overreach the court's jurisdiction, the Supreme Court on Monday directed it to pay Rs 10 lakh fine within two weeks for felling of trees in Aarey forest beyond permission.
India has long struggled to find a suitable definition; activists hope that this case changes norms, reports Geetika Srivastava.
After taking charge as the chief minister on November 29, Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress government, had announced stay on construction of the metro car shed project in the colony, a prime green lung of the city
The apex child rights body NCPCR on Monday sought an FIR against Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray for allegedly using children in his party's campaign to save Mumbai's Aarey forest.
The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who said, the forest would be the first example of a "huge jungle" being conserved at the centre of a megapolis, an official statement said.
Apart from leopards, a wide range of species of flora and fauna is found in the Aarey forest, an 1,800 acre area termed as the city's 'green lung', located in suburban Goregaon and adjacent to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
Holding placards, the protesters raised slogans against the new government's proposal to shift the Metro-3 car shed project back to Mumbai's Aarey forest, an 1,800-acre area that is often termed as the megalopolis's 'green lung'.
The apex court has directed that status quo be maintained till its next hearing on October 21.
The party went on to say that the "the way the Aarey issue is being oppressed, it is nothing but dictatorship".
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In an important decision, the new government in Maharashtra on Thursday announced lifting of the stay on the construction of Mumbai Metro-3 car shed at the controversial site in the Aarey Colony, a green belt in the city's western suburbs.
With the Maharashtra government doling out pieces of the lush green Aarey forest to various utilities, the tribals living in it for generations are feeling increasingly insecure. Hepzi Anthony reports.
The apex court on Sunday set up a special bench on the basis of a letter addressed to the Chief Justice of India by one Rishav Ranjan against the cutting of the trees.
The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd started hacking trees from Friday night to make way for a car shed, hours after the Bombay high court dismissed four petitions filed by NGOs and activists challenging the decision to allow felling of trees in the prime green lung of the city.
Chopping of trees started on Friday night, hours after the Bombay High Court dismissed petitions challenging Tree Authority's decision to axe trees in Aarey to make way for the rake depot.
On the contentious issue of cutting trees in Mumbai's Aarey forest, the BJP and Sena appears to be on opposite sides, as Uttam Ghosh notes in his take on the Aarey controversy.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the Supreme Court order which restrained the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation authorities from cutting any more trees in Mumbai's Aarey forest.
Responding to a question on the issue of felling trees in Mumbai's Aarey forest, in which the Supreme Court has restrained authorities from cutting anymore trees, Javadekar told the reporters that he would not like to comment on a sub judice matter.
The Bombay high court on Monday directed the Mumbai civic body to clarify how it has issued a public notice seeking to cut 177 trees at the Aarey Colony area for a Metro car shed project when the Supreme Court in 2022 permitted felling of only 84 trees.
In their first cabinet meeting held hours after coming to power, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis took the first step towards overturning the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government's decision of relocating the proposed Mumbai Metro Line-3 car shed from Aarey Colony.
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Friday questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to install a "so-called Shiv Sainik" as Maharashtra chief minister when it did not keep its 2019 promise of rotating the top post, and slammed the new government's move to relocate a Mumbai Metro car shed to green belt of Aarey Colony, reversing a key decision of the previous regime.
The city police have started issuing notices under section 149 of the CrPC, prohibiting unlawful gathering at the protest venue in the western suburb of Goregaon, he said.
A court on Sunday ordered the release of protesters on certain conditions, including production of personal surety of Rs 7,000 and assurance that they would not take part in protests.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the political crisis in Maharashtra where more than a fortnight after the election results, the state still does not have a government in place.
Mehta said some bushes were there on the ground which have been cleared and some branches were trimmed so that vehicles could pass on an approach road there.
Activist Zoru Bathena has filed a petition challenging the civic tree authority's approval on August 29 for felling trees for the car shed.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday permitted the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd to pursue its plea with the relevant authority for felling 84 trees at Mumbai's Aarey Colony for constructing train ramps at its car shed project, saying it cannot be "oblivious of serious dislocation" which may be caused in projects involving "large public funds".
'It was immoral to cut the trees at Aarey, says Delhi law student Rishav Ranjan.
The blaze started around 6:30 pm on Monday in an open plot near an IT Park along the General Arun Kumar Vaidya Marg in the western suburb, located adjacent to the Colony.
Thackeray said not a single tree leaf will be cut till further developments.
On September 20, the Maharashtra government had told the court that Aarey cannot be declared a forest just because of its greenery.
'He is posting that someone who took the metro (during a medical emergency) got saved.' 'Let him try doing the same. He cannot peddle nonsense just because he is a star.'
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