Times of India: Mumbai: Monday, July 24, 2017.
Three
different wings dealing with forests have given three different versions on
Aarey.
In July, NGO
Vanashakti, who has filed a plea before the National Green Tribunal to declare
Aarey a forest, had filed a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act with
the revenue and forest department seeking details on the transfer of 20 sq km
of Aarey land to Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP). In his reply, the public
information officer said the file was destroyed in the 2012 Mantralaya fire.
After the fire, the Maharashtra government had directed all state departments
outside Mantralaya as well as citizens to help 'rebuild' the files.
Vanashakti's query has now been transferred to the deputy conservator of
forests, Kopri, in Thane.
Later, Thane
resident Rajiv Datta too had filed a similar RTI with the Thane conservator of
forests office. In its reply, the department had said as it was set up in 1974
and had no record of the transfer of Aarey Milk Colony revenue land to forest
department.
In February,
the national park authorities, in its reply to an RTI query, had provided
documents that clearly show that 20 sq km of Aarey land had been transferred to
the park. Other documents also record that over 500 acres of Aarey land
transferred was being sought to be denotified.
SGNP's
management plan for 2013-14 to 2022-23 also mentions that the revenue lands
transferred from Aarey Milk Colony form un-classed forests. "The state
government is trying to stonewall and deny information on Aarey. They say no
land was transferred when we have clear proof (from SGNP) that land was
transferred," claims an activist.
Citizens
under the banner of Save Aarey Movement and Aarey Conservation Group have been
urging the government not to locate the car shed for Metro III in Aarey to
protect the green cover and its biodiversity. tnn