29 arrested in connection with Aarey Colony protest
Bollywood celebrities express anger over tree cutting in Aarey
Mumbai, Oct 5: Twenty-nine people, including six women, were arrested on Saturday in connection with the protest against the cutting of trees in Aarey Colony, a police official said.
Those arrested are among the 60 people earlier detained by police.
"We have arrested 29 protesters. Six of them are women. Some of them had manhandled and beaten the police personnel deployed in Aarey Colony and obstructed them from discharging their duty," the police official said.
The MMRCL had started hacking trees from Friday to make way for a car shed, hours after the Bombay High Court dismissed four petitions filed by NGOs and activists challenging the decision to allow felling of trees in the prime green lung of the city.
However, hundreds of environmental activists gathered in Aarey Colony and protested. They tried to stop the authorities from chopping down the trees.
Several Bollywood actors, including Farhan Akhtar, Dia Mirza and Swara Bhasker, on Saturday condemned the felling of trees in Aarey Colony, being carried out to make way for a Metro carshed.
Hours after the Bombay High Court on Friday dismissed four petitions by NGOs against the felling of over 2,600 trees, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) swung into action and started hacking trees for the project.
"Cutting trees at night is a pathetic attempt at trying to get away with something even those doing it know is wrong. #Aarey #GreenIsGold #Mumbai," Akhtar said in a tweet.
In a series of tweets, Mirza said that this "massacre" needs to be stopped.
"400 trees have been cut in the dead of the night. As citizens sang and joined hands in unity pleading to STOP this massacre. Can't you see they are UNITED by love!?! Love for nature. Love for our children and our future. #Aarey #ClimateAction #ActNow #ChangeIsComing," she said.
In another tweet, the actor said that there is supposed to be a 15-day waiting period after the permission is granted and notice has been uploaded on the official website.
"But there is no waiting here. Our trees are being cut as citizens desperately plead to STOP this! @moefcc @PrakashJavdekar #Aarey."
Sharing a video of the felling of trees on Twitter, actor Richa Chadda wrote, "If you're a parent and not seriously angered about this shady tree felling in the night, lemme know how you feel about looking your kids in their eyes."
In another tweet, Chadda expressed her anger saying, "All this for a carshed - which is basically like a parking lot for the Metro. Stealing oxygen from the lungs of citizens.
"And it's begun! #AareyForest #AareyColony being destroyed," Swara said.
Actor Urmila Matondkar, who had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election as a Congress candidate from Mumbai North before quitting the party last month, said what was happening at Aarey was "truly incomprehensible".
"1. Mumbai high court saying 'Aarey is not a forest.
- So much urgency and diligence in carrying out a court order. 3. Those responsible can't get away with a mere tweet of fake anguish #Aarey #Mumbai #Green," she said.
Actor Pooja Bhatt said that in a "fair, ethical, just and humane world it should be the other way around".
"The state should be protecting the trees from the men with machetes who arrive cloaked in darkness. Alas, this is the world we live in. One without a moral compass & conscience. God help us all!" she tweeted.
In a tweet, filmmaker Onir said, "In the cover of darkness the axe falls on our trees. RIP #AareyForest. We failed you. My heart breaks to know that by morning many proud erect trees will have fallen to human greed."
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
RBI keeps policy rate unchanged amid inflationary pressure
Mumbai (PTI): The Reserve Bank on Wednesday expectedly kept interest rates unchanged amid hopes of a global recovery on the back of ceasefire in the six-week-long US/Israel-Iran conflict.
The policy decision comes as a month and a-half-long West Asia conflict has disrupted energy supplies, shot up crude oil prices and created fiscal and inflationary pressures for import-dependent nations like India.
This is the first monetary policy review after the government announced a fresh inflation target for the RBI last month. The government has asked the RBI to maintain retail inflation at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side for another five years ending March 2031.
Announcing the first bi-monthly monetary policy for the current fiscal, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has unanimously decided to retain short-term lending rate or repo rate at 5.25 per cent with a neutral stance.
The rate cut pause comes on the back of the consumer price index (CPI) based headline retail inflation that moved closer to the RBI's medium-term target of 4 per cent at 3.21 per cent in February.
Additionally, the rupee has depreciated by over 4 per cent since the war, which has consequences for pushing up import inflation.
However, the rupee has appreciated by 50 paise to 92.56 against US dollar following announcement of the ceasefire by the US and Iran.
Based on the recommendation of the MPC, the RBI reduced the repo rate by 25 bps each in February, April, and December 2025 and 50 basis points in June amidst easing retail inflation.
India's retail inflation dropped to a historic low of 0.25 per cent in October 2025, marking the lowest level since the Consumer Price Index (CPI) series was introduced.
However, the rupee declined to historic low and crossed 95 against a dollar last month making imports costlier, raising fears of rise in inflation. Rupee touched a record low of 95.21 on March 30, 2026.
