India, March 28 -- The Supreme Court recently sought a report from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) on whether the Maharashtra government's claim that paver blocks need to be installed on the mud roads of Matheran to prevent soil erosion is true.

A bench of justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih was dealing with applications that involved issues concerning allowing e-rickshaws in Matheran and laying paver blocks on the roads. The applicants had filed a plea opposing the state's plan to lay concrete paver blocks in Matheran, contending that it was an attempt to motorise the hill station.

Automobiles are banned in Matheran, which is about 85 km from Mumbai. The only modes of transportation at the hil...