Striking back at Aaditya Thackeray over tree felling in Aarey Colony, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the Shiv Sena leader should acknowledge the 'intention of the protesters.' Furthermore, the Maharashtra chief minister claimed that Aarey colony's car shed land is 'government's land' and not a part of the forest. 

He said, "I want to say Aaditya Thackeray that his intention is right but he should also understand the intention of those people who are behind of the Aarey protest. Supreme Court has said that car shed land is not part of the forest. We will follow Supreme Court's guidelines. Japan has studied this project for one year and then they agreed to fund it. This is the government's land. It is not part of the forest. We will plant trees. I will speak to Aditya on this." 

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Aaditya Thackeray's stand

The president of Yuva Sena, Shiv Sena youth wing has repeatedly opposed the deforestation of Aarey colony.  Thackeray on Tuesday sought transfer of MMRCL's Managing Director Ashwini Bhide for not heeding the opposition to tree felling in Aarey Colony for Mumbai metro's car shed.

"It is my way or the highway attitude. If they can't build a Metro car shed at (some) other place, it is like threatening Mumbai. So why should such officers, or consultants, stay in their position?" Thackeray said. 

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Shiv Sena has been completely against the proposed construction of metro that harms the green cover of Mumbai, however, the Tree Authority of the BMC passed the order despite the opposition. The BMC is controlled by both, BJP and Shiv Sena. Meanwhile, ally BJP and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis have openly supported the infrastructure plan that requires chopping of over 3000 trees in Mumbai city. 

BJP and Shiv Sena will continue their alliance for the upcoming Maharashtra election and the saffron party announced a day back that there are 'no issues' between the seat-sharing formula between the two. 

Aarey protests

The BJP-led Maharashtra government's plan to cut about 3,000 trees in Aarey Colony in north Mumbai for car shed of the metro has had green activists and citizens' groups up in the arms. BJP's Maharashtra ally, Aaditya Thackeray has lent support to those opposed to tree felling.

According to the petition, over one lakh citizens filed objections to the Tree authority's proposal. An official at Tree Authority had said that the authority had arranged for a public meeting which was attended by the petitioner and 500 other people to raise their voices against the decision on July 08, 2019.

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