'Sundays For Aarey' Completes 200 Weeks Of Protest, Activists Renew Demand For 'No Development Zone' Status

Mumbai: The citizens' movement 'Sundays For Aarey' completed 200 consecutive weeks of protest on Sunday, with environmental activists renewing their demand that Aarey be declared a 'No Development Zone' to protect one of Mumbai's last remaining urban forests.

Campaigners Gather at Birsa Munda Chowk Despite Monsoon Rain

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Braving the monsoon rain, campaigners gathered at Birsa Munda Chowk in Aarey Milk Colony, displaying banners, singing songs celebrating the forest and staging a street play to highlight the ecological importance of the area.

Reshma Shelatkar, an animal rights campaigner associated with the movement since its inception, described it as "probably the longest continuous campaign anywhere in the world to save an urban forest".

Described as 'Longest Continuous Campaign to Save an Urban Forest'

Spread across around 3,162 acres (1,280 hectares), Aarey comprises government dairy land, cattle sheds, tribal hamlets and slum settlements, while vast stretches remain covered by forests and grasslands. The area supports rich biodiversity, including leopards, deer, wild boar, mongooses, jungle cats, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies and numerous plant species.

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According to Shelatkar, the wider 'Save Aarey' movement began around 2010. Public opposition intensified in November 2014 against the felling of trees and destruction of grasslands for the Metro car shed project, with several protesters later facing police cases. Although the Maha Vikas Aghadi government announced in 2019 that the car shed would be shifted to Kanjurmarg, the decision was reversed after the Mahayuti government assumed office in 2022.

The first 'Sundays For Aarey' protest was held on 3 July 2022 and has continued every week since, drawing support from organisations including the India Greens Party, the Bombay Catholic Sabha and concerned citizens.

"We are not happy with what is happening. Aarey is being encroached upon from all sides. We gather every week for an hour, but it seems nobody cares. In the rush for development, trees are being slaughtered," said 79-year-old Bandra resident and regular protester Rusi Nariman. "We are not against development, but not at the cost of destroying nature."

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