Mumbai, July 14, 2026: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday expressed concern over the loss of mangroves in the city and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), observing that cutting trees is a loss for the local environment and warning that if green cover continues to shrink, “a day may not be far when people will carry oxygen cylinders to take oxygen shots”.
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice Gautam Ankhad made the observation while hearing a plea by Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Co. Ltd. (MSETCL) seeking permission to fell 847 mangrove trees for laying a 132 KV transmission line from Dahanu to Ambesari in Palghar district for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project.
Court Questions Afforestation Plan
During the hearing, the Bench said the larger concern was not merely cutting the trees but whether the authorities ensured that compensatory plantations survived.
“The problem is that you all do not replant. The plants which you then plant have started dying. You only create a picture that you have planted something. You don't turn around and see whether it is alive after you have planted it,” the court orally remarked.
The Bench also questioned the proposal for compensatory afforestation outside the affected region. “Find a better place for afforestation. You will plant in Solapur, which already has a lot of trees,” the court observed.
“It is a loss for this area. As it is, Bombay has so little oxygen that the day will not be far when people will carry oxygen cylinders to take oxygen shots,” the court remarked.
Advocate General Milind Sathe, appearing for the state, submitted that instead of planting elsewhere, the government would identify degraded forest land in the same region for afforestation. “We will identify degraded forest land. But that will take time,” he said.
Transmission Line Proposal
The plea states that the proposed 13.06-km transmission line requires diversion of 3.35 hectares of forest land, including 1.9656 hectares of mangrove forest. It claims that three alternative alignments were examined and the final route was selected to minimise the impact on forests and other ecologically sensitive areas.
It highlighted that the transmission line was urgently required as the Prime Minister is scheduled to inaugurate the bullet train project in October.
After the 2018 Bombay High Court judgment imposing a complete freeze on the destruction of mangroves without its approval, all public infrastructure projects involving mangrove felling require the court's permission. The Bench reserved its order on the plea.
Project Details
The plea seeks permission for diversion of at least 3.35 hectares of forest land containing 1.9656 hectares of mangrove forest in its favour under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, for cutting nearly 847 mangrove trees within the construction zone in Dahanu taluka of Palghar district. Of the 13.06 km proposed transmission line, certain segments are to traverse forest land in Dahanu taluka.
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Earlier, in December 2022, the Bombay High Court had allowed a plea by the National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd. (NHSRCL), in “public interest”, for the felling of 21,997 mangrove trees in Mumbai, Palghar and Thane to clear the route for the bullet train project, subject to various conditions.
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