Aarey 65 Acres Set For Planting
- Ashish Shelar told Mumbai Suburban officials on May 4 to draft a monsoon plantation plan for about 65 acres inside Aarey Colony. - The land appears to sit across government-controlled parcels, with Saurabh Katiyar asked to map sites, species, and forest-density gains. - It matters because Aarey is Mumbai’s most contested green zone, where restoration promises now face unusually close public scrutiny.
Aarey is not just another patch of open land in Mumbai. It is one of the city’s biggest environmental pressure valves — a forested buffer beside Sanjay Gandhi National Park, and a place where every new plan gets read through the memory of old fights. That is why Monday’s move matters. Maharashtra minister Ashish Shelar asked officials to prepare a plantation plan for roughly 65 acres inside Aarey Colony during the coming monsoon, with the stated goal of adding tree cover and thickening existing forest patches. ### What exactly changed? The news is not that trees have already been planted. The news is that the government has ordered a detailed planting blueprint. Shelar, who is also Mumbai Suburban’s guardian minister, directed district collector Saurabh Katiyar to prepare that plan after visiting Aarey on May 4 and reviewing land controlled by different public bodies inside the colony. ### Where would those 65 acres come from? Turns out this is the key detail. The 65-acre figure comes from a preliminary inspection of government-held parcels in Aarey — not from one big empty block. Reports point to land linked to estate-by-site mapping, not a single headline number magically turning into a forest. ### Why now? Heat is a big part of the answer. Shelar tied the push to rising temperatures in Mumbai and to the state’s larger plantation campaign. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier announced a five-year “Mission Green Maharashtra” target of planting 300 crore trees, with 20 crore slated for the first year. Aarey is being folded into that broader drive ahead of the 2026 monsoon. ### Why is Aarey such a sensitive place? Because Aarey has history. In 2019, the area became a national flashpoint after around 1,500 trees were felled for the Metro car shed project. Since then, almost any government move in Aarey — development, restoration, beautification, happening in one of Mumbai’s most politically charged ecological landscapes. ### What will decide whether this is real? Execution. Officials have been asked not just to count acres but to work out how many trees can actually be planted, which species fit each site, and whether some pockets could use denser methods like Miyawaki-style planting. That sounds technical. Survival rates matter more than ceremonial sapling counts. ### Is there already skepticism? Yes — and for good reason. Recent reporting around Aarey restoration has shown how plantation numbers can get messy once court commitments, land availability, transplantation, and actual survival rates enter the picture. One recent account flags gaps, species lists, and follow-through after the rains. ### So what should people watch next? Watch for the detailed plan from the district collector. The real questions are simple — which parcels make the cut, how much of the land is genuinely plantable, what species are chosen, and whether the government publishes enough detail for independent scrutiny. Without that, “65 acres” is just a round number with good optics. ### Bottom line? Mumbai may well get more trees in Aarey this monsoon. But the bigger story is whether the state can turn a heavily contested landscape into a credible restoration project, not just another green promise.
