New Delhi, July 30 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that proper infrastructure is key to the country's progress and development projects cannot be stalled over environmental concerns as it allowed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to fell 95 trees towards construction of the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR). The said trees are adjacent to the Aarey Colony forest, which serves as the green lung of Mumbai, and the apex court had passed several orders protecting it. On Tuesday, the bench of Chief Justice of India Bhushan R Gavai and justice K Vinod Chandran said the trees can be felled only after it has examined the compensatory afforestation plan and the report by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay on the need for felling trees. The BMC's tree authority had approached the court in view of a January 10, 2025 order which prohibited it from felling any trees in Aarey without its permission. The 95 trees had to be axed to make way for the tunnel boring machine and other machinery required to construct a 6.62-km tunnel, the authority said in its plea. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who represented the BMC's tree authority, said that in all, over 1,000 trees would need to be axed for the GMLR project, though only 95 would have to be felled initially to allow mobilisation of machinery. When the bench asked if any expert agency had examined the need for felling trees, Rohatgi said that the state had received a report from IIT Bombay. The court directed the report to be filed by August 8 and also sought an elaborate afforestation plan including details of the plantation area and trees to be planted. Several civil society groups, activists and nonprofits who had filed the original petition seeking 'reserved forest' status for the Aarey forest opposed the BMC's bid to axe 95 trees. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing the petitioners, said that till date, nearly 4,000 trees had been felled in the Aarey forest and yet, there was nothing on record to show that afforestation had been carried out. In January this year, the state government had filed an affidavit in the apex court saying there were no pending proposals for cutting trees in Aarey even though the proposal for felling 95 trees was pending since March 2024, Sankaranarayanan said. In response, the court clarified that the affidavit was filed in the context of the Metro car shed in Aarey, for which work was already over. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state, said the GMLR would reduce the travel time between Goregaon and Mulund by over an hour. The court directed the BMC's tree authority to file a response citing expert studies to explain why there was no alternative other than chopping the trees. Stalin D, director for the nonprofit Vanashakti, one of the original petitioners in the case, said the court had not yet allowed the felling of trees as it had asked for the compensatory afforestation plan and expert report. "Our contention is not against the GMLR, but these 95 trees," he said. "There are other barren lands in close proximity which could be used for the shaft as other options, and the trees can be saved. Instead, a web of lies is spun and presented as gospel truth to the court."...