top of page

By:

Minal Sancheti

2 May 2026 at 12:26:53 pm

BMC under fire over tree cutting plan

Mumbai: On May 29, the BMC decided to cut 1900 trees for Versova-Bhayandar Link Road. The decision saw a massive uproar by the opposition as well as the environmentalists concerned about the city’s rising temperature and unpredictable climate. The BMC has claimed that Mumbai’s civilisation is growing rapidly, and to keep up the pace, the city needs more roadways. This is important as current infrastructure is lacking capacity to handle the traffic. “To create this infrastructure, we will have...

BMC under fire over tree cutting plan

Mumbai: On May 29, the BMC decided to cut 1900 trees for Versova-Bhayandar Link Road. The decision saw a massive uproar by the opposition as well as the environmentalists concerned about the city’s rising temperature and unpredictable climate. The BMC has claimed that Mumbai’s civilisation is growing rapidly, and to keep up the pace, the city needs more roadways. This is important as current infrastructure is lacking capacity to handle the traffic. “To create this infrastructure, we will have to cut 1900 trees. We will replant 700 trees, and 1200 trees will be cut,” said Ganesh Khankar, the BJP group leader in the BMC. “We will plant 3000 plants in Panvel. We are also planning to implement the rule to plant at least one tree in the 45000 housing societies of Mumbai.” Bansari Kothari, an environmentalist, claimed that this infrastructure may not be the best plan for the city. “The trees that will be compensated will be in Panvel. But the trees will be cut between Versova and Bhayandar. So the citizens of Versova and Bhayandar will lose their tree cover. Thus, it does not give proper justification. For the development of the coastal road that benefits only two to three percent of the population, we cannot cut trees that benefit 100 percent of the population,” she said. The environmentalists have claimed that these trees are precious and invaluable. The age of some of these trees is 35 and 60 years and more. The authorities have promised to plant 3000 trees in Panvel, but these are just small saplings and will take at least 25 to 30 years to grow and become a tree. Former mayor and opposition leader Kishori Pednekar said development is important but not at the cost of the environment. “Mumbai will become a desert. How will they stop that? Development is important but not by destroying nature. Development is necessary. We need metros and monorails but not at the cost of the environment,” she said. Environmentalist Stalin D, president of an NGO Vanashakti, warned that the consequence of cutting trees at this rate can create many problems for the citizens of Mumbai. “India will be badly affected by the climate crisis; despite that, if we don’t take action, then it will be too late. They are planning to make the city like Dubai. The same heat in the afternoon where nobody can get out of the house. Everything is barren. People dying for water.”

NIA’s uphill task - dragging Rana to noose

Mumbai: As the euphoria over Dr. Tahawwur Hussain Rana’s extradition subsides, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and its legal team get down to the brass tacks of how to ensure the noose for their prime catch.


Amid a nationwide clamor to hang him, the NIA’s obstacles may be galore – primary and foremost being Rana was absolved of any involvement in the Nov. 26-29, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, by a Federal Jury in the US District Court in Chicago 14 years ago.


“The jury acquitted Rana of conspiracy to provide material support to the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, that killed more than 160 people, including six Americans,” said a US Justice Department (June 9, 2011) statement, updated on Feb. 5, 2025.


The big buzz in legal, political circles is how the NIA sleuths will grill their ‘trophy’ behind the bars to pave the way for his conviction with the maximum possible sentence.


Akin to Ajmal A. Kasab - the sole terrorist in the 26/11 attacks - who was given a full fair trial including all appeals, pronounced guilty and finally hanged in Pune’s Yerawada Central Jail on November 21, 2012, with no objections raised anywhere in the world.


Legal sources say the quizzing would be based on the investigations in India, plus the probe in the USA, his whereabouts before, during and after 26/11, how he managed to evade suspicions so many times during his five pre-attack and two post-attack visits to India, his other sleeping associates in India.


As per Indian investigations, Rana - along with his childhood mate David Coleman Headley, both aged 64 - set the groundwork for the 26/11 attacks, and had links with Pakistan’s spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Lashkar-E-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-Ul-Jihadi Islami.


From Chicago, Rana financed Headley’s Indian recce missions, collecting the money from other dubious elements like his LeT handler Sajid Mir, ISI Major Iqbal and ex-Major Abdul R. Pasha, who had quit the Pakistan Army for better prospects in LeT and then Al-Qaeda, and one Ilyas Kashmiri.


Rana sent funds four times in 2006 – Rs.67,605 (Oct. 11); USD 500 (Nov. 7); Rs 17,636 (Nov. 30), USD 1000 (Dec. 4); plus Rs 80,000 was dispatched from Major Pasha and USD 25,000 from Major Iqbal, as per the NIA probe.


Many aspects were later corroborated by Kasab’s testimony in Mumbai and Headley’s statements during 9-days’ deposition via video-conferencing in Feb-March 2016 after he turned an approver with pardon in the 26/11 case before a Mumbai Special Court.


Legal eagles dare and bare

J. P. MISHRA

Ace criminal lawyer Mishra – who is fighting the Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur case – said for the first time in the country’s history, the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) himself followed-up on Rana’s extradition, but the previous UPA regime merely gave lip service.


He feels that though Rana was acquitted by the US Court, he was actually wrongly tried in the USA for a Mumbai (India) matter. “Consider - could the Sep. 11, 2001 USA terror strikes (9/11) trial be conducted in India or any other country? After sustained investigations by our agencies, the US has accepted India’s (extradition) request on the basis of cogent and convincing evidence implicating Rana,” Mishra told The Perfect Voice.

S. G. ABBAS KAZMI

Criminal lawyer Kazmi – who represented the sole terrorist nabbed alive, Ajmal A. Kasab in the early part of the 26/11 trial in Mumbai – said that whatever arguments India had put up in the US Court will be put up here, though he was let off the hook there. “The allegation is that he (Rana) is the mastermind of the 26/11 terror strikes. Now the NIA and government would have to prove it before the courts here to ensure his conviction,” Kazmi told The Perfect Voice.


Other legal experts requesting anonymity, contend that Rana’s legal battery may exploit to the hilt his acquittal in the 26/11 case by a US Federal Jury.


“India will have to produce additional concrete evidence that can crucify Rana. IT will not be a breeze as believed, with the whole world minutely watching the trial here,” said a lawyer who fought the March 1993 Mumbai terror bombings case.

Comments

bottom of page