Aarey Protesters Shed Light On City’s Declining Air Quality Amid 121-Week Forest Campaign

On their 121st week of protest to save the Aarey forest, citizens who gathered on Sunday morning drew attention to Mumbai’s worsening air quality.

The small group of protesters who stood near Birsa Munda Chowk, Goregaon (East), held placards and banners, and raised slogans about the deteriorating air quality and the loss of tree cover. Among those who gathered were municipal school teachers, students, and members of the teaching staff at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. They took turns to stand along the road between 11.00 and 12.00am.

Citizens have been gathering every Sunday since July 2022 to seek protection for one of the last surviving natural areas in the city. The gatherings are organised by local residents and members of the Bombay Catholic Sabha (BCS)’s Our Lady of Rosary Church parish in Goregaon. Alex D’Souza of the BCS who was there at the protest gathering, said, “We decided to highlight the air pollution issue because Mumbai’s air is now becoming as bad as Delhi.”

Aarey, established in 1949 as the Aarey Milk Colony, covers approximately 3100 acres (1250 hectares) and has defunct dairies, a bread factory, the Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari (Film City), and other facilities cover almost a third of the area. There are also tribal villages that existed before the dairy was established, and slums. The rest is forests, grasslands, gardens, and tree plantations. The forest faces threats from slums, new government housing projects, and dumping of concrete debris.

The campaign to save the remaining forests started after the allocation of nearly 25 hectares to construct a depot for the SEEPZ-Cuffe Parade underground Metro railway. The campaign completed 100 weeks in July.