Shelar attacks Sena for BMC allowing felling of 25k trees

Senior Maharashtra BJP leader Ashish Shelar on Tuesday lashed out at the Shiv Sena- controlled BMC for giving permission to cut 25,000 trees in the metropolis for various works in the last five years.

The tree-felling admission was made by the BMC when it tabled the budget on Tuesday.

The Shiv Sena, incidentally, has been opposing the metro rail carshed work in Aarey area, a green lung of Mumbai, because it involved the felling of over 2,600 trees.

One of the first moves of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government after it took over in the state was to order a stay on the construction of the carshed in Aarey for Metro Line 3 and setting up a committee to suggest an alternate site.

In a series of tweets, Shelar said, "Where was Sena's love for environment in last five years when BMC gave out permissions for cutting down of 25,000 trees. Why did it insist on suspending carshed work at Aarey land and led to Mumbaikars losing Rs 300 crore."