2,702 trees may be cut or transplanted for Metro depot at Aarey

MUMBAI: A new Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation ( MMRC ) study has concluded that underground lines would help mitigate the ill-effects of carbon dioxide much more quickly than the 2,702 Aarey trees that may be chopped or transplanted elsewhere for the project.

MMRC officials said they are willing to table the report before the Tree Authority which will soon decide on the controversial proposal to cut or transplant 2,702 trees for construction of the Metro depot inside Aarey. The plan to chop the trees has been opposed by a section of citizens, environmentalists and even political groups.

The study said the Metro lines would help CO2 sequestration in just four days of operations unlike a year taken by the 2,702 trees. By extension, Metro lines would take less than 80 days to help CO2 sequestration that the trees would manage in their 20-year lifespan, the study added. Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing CO2 to reduce its presence in the atmosphere.

The detailed project report prepared by RITES engineering consultancy shows that a total of 2,702 trees will be affected in Aarey for construction of a Metro depot for maintenance facilities.

MMRC director (projects) S K Gupta said, “We commissioned the study to ascertain the daily carbon emission that the Metro would replace and the CO2 sequestration by 2,702 trees in Aarey.”

The study said a Metro trip is expected to carry 3,000 passengers. This would mean that 200 cars will go off the roads, if it is assumed that only 12% of these passengers would shift to the Metro. It is estimated that around 324kg of CO2 would have been produced by 200 cars in the absence of these cars.

The study estimated that 63,953kg of CO2 is sequestrated by 2,702 trees per year. It said, “A total of 197 Metro trips will be able to sequestrate this much amount of CO2. A total of 3,948 trips will be able to offset the entire 12.79kg of CO2 by removal of 2,702 trees over their designated lifetime of 20 years. These would mean annual CO2 sequestration happens only in four days of Metro operations and lifetime sequestration happens within 80 days.”

