Thane Sena mayor opposes tree-cutting for metro 4 route

Thane mayor and Shiv Sena leader Naresh Mhaske asked the civic body's deputy commissioner (tree protection) to lodge police cases against contractors working on a metro rail line in the city for allegedly cutting trees. Work is currently underway on Metro Line 4, a 32.32 kilometre route from Wadala in neighbouring Mumbai to Kasarvadavali in Thane.

The elevated corridor will have 32 stations, and work on it entails removing trees, which has been opposed by a section of Thanekars. Mhaske's letter, which was released to the media on Friday, claimed tree-cutting was being carried out by metro contractors, appointed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, despite a court ban on it.

In another development, MNS workers rushed to one of the sites of the metro line 4 construction and stopped work there for some time alleging the felling of trees at night. The MNS later submitted a memorandum to the mayor demanding action. Earlier in the day, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had announced a stay on work of the Colaba-Bandra- SEEPZ metro carshed in Aarey Colony in neighbouring Mumbai.