Mumbai: State Board of Wildlife Permits MMRDA To Cut Down 122 Trees For Twin Tube Tunnel Road Under SGNP

The State Board of Wildlife has granted permission to Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to cut 122 trees for the Twin Tube Tunnel road between Thane and Borivali under the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The clearance was awarded at the board's 22nd meeting. The ambitious project will cut travel time by an hour between Mumbai and Thane.

MMRDA Metropolitan Commissioner Dr Sanjay Mukherjee said, said "We are constantly working towards improving the lives of people in and around the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The ways we embrace are always imbued with careful considerations to ensure that each one of them will take us one step closer to a promising future."

The wildlife clearance is a real achievement

He called the project a marvellous endeavour that adds new meaning to the word connectivity. He said that getting the wildlife clearance is a real achievement and that they can now proceed to make this dream a reality.

The project, however, has come under fire for the need to bore scores of holes and cutting of 122 trees. The decision was taken at the board’s meeting on Monday to keep the ire of environmentalists at bay.

The 2 tunnel roads

As per the official MMRDA note, the project involves the construction of two tunnel roads with two separate lanes and one emergency lane in each of them. The length of the tunnel road will be about 10.25km and the length of the approach road will be 1.55km.

MMRDA said this will be a major breakthrough because people will be able to save a lot of time and money in terms of fuel costs from Thane to Borivali and vice versa.