MUMBAI, June 28 -- After the public hearing on the Versova-Bhayandar Coastal Road in late May evoked an uproar from residents worried about the potential environmental damage it would cause, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has made a few tweaks to the Coastal Road's design. One such change is at Charkop, where one of the road's interchanges is primed to come up. An RTI response has revealed that the BMC has tweaked the plan of the approach roads to minimise the number of trees that will be affected, which earlier stood at 336. Confirming it, additional municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar said, "As the residents were concerned about the trees being affected, the interchange was slightly repositioned to reduce the number of affected trees by 190, which means only 140 will be affected." Mili Shetty, a Charkop resident and activist, said, "The BMC has said that the trees along our buildings and the median of the road will not be affected, all of which earlier had a notice for cutting or transplantation pasted on them. The Coastal Road bridge will be pillared along the boundary wall of the mangrove, which is on the other side of the road." Shetty and other activists are now relieved that the harm on the residents would be tempered. "For now, the BMC has said it will not be constructing a retaining wall across our buildings, which is a huge relief as it would have come too close to the compound walls. The pillars, which will be towards the south near the mangrove boundary wall, will give us plenty of space. The only place where the retaining wall will come near the buildings is at a 120-metre spot near Ruby Towers, as that will be where the bridge will land," said Shetty. Another revelation of the RTI response was that a 3-storey parking lot will be built a little ahead of Turzon Point to offer paid parking to the residents. "A viewing tower with 900 car parks was planned, but as the residents have requested parking, we are thinking of allotting some spots to them and provide them an alternate entry to the lot," said Bangar....