Mumbai: “How can they be so cruel?” That’s the question actor and environmental advocate Dia Mirza’s six-year-old son Avyaan asked as he heard conversations about the forests of Mumbai’s mangroves being cut for development.
The question Mirza shared in an Instagram post on the importance of mangroves this week reflected the growing concerns of many Mumbai residents who fear the environmental consequences of destroying the city’s mangroves, which for years have acted as a natural shield against tidal surges and storms.
The 26.3-km Versova-Bhayandar Coastal Road, being developed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has been dogged by controversy from the get-go.
After years of delay because of legal challenges by environmental activists who said cutting the mangroves would heighten flood risk and erode the coastline, construction on the mammoth Rs 22,000-crore project began this year after the Bombay High Court granted its clearance in December 2025.
The Supreme Court on Friday declined to interfere with the Bombay High Court order permitting the BMC to remove over 45,000 mangroves for the Versova-Bhayandar road project in north Mumbai.
The apex court directed the BMC to submit annual reports to the high court with details of the extent of compensatory afforestation and the restoration of mangroves.
Despite the court’s backing, opposition to the project had continued.
On Sunday, Mirza and actor Richa Chadha joined dozens of environmental activists and city residents in a peaceful march to protest against the cutting of 45,000 mangroves in Mumbai’s Charkop area for the proposed Coastal Road between Versova and Bhayandar.
“We don’t want to live in a city where our natural infrastructure is lost, and grey replaces green. No amount of afforestation is going to compensate for the real forest,” Mirza said during the protest.
BMC officials said they would plant trees to compensate for the trees being cut for the project, which they said would reduce travel time along the western coastline.
“We will be doing afforestation, and only those mangroves will be cut, which are necessary,” a BMC official told ThePrint.
“Around 45,000 mangroves will be cut for this project, out of which 9,000 fall in the bridge area, while the rest are in the shadow area, for which the in-situ restoration will be done,” the official added.
The BMC informed the high court that three times the number of mangroves that will be felled for the project would be replanted as compensatory afforestation in areas like Mira-Bhayandar, in addition to a statutory plantation of 103 hectares proposed in Chandrapur district.
But critics were not convinced.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray alleged that authorities were carrying out bogus replanting and compensatory afforestation, and demanded a halt to the felling of mangroves for the Versova-Bhayandar Coastal Road.
The former state environment minister also sought an inquiry commission to probe the matter, alleging that Forest Department officials were “misleading” the Bombay High Court, the forest minister, and civil society regarding the status of mangrove plantations.
Thackeray told ThePrint that instead of cutting the mangroves, authorities could have built tunnels underneath to manoeuvre around them.
Environment activist Stalin of NGO Vanshakti also criticised the move, telling the media that “absolute fraud is being played out”.
Stalin said he had visited the site where the proposed replantation would be carried out. “How could the court allow this without any ground verification? I have visited the site today and have seen the deceit. Where is the space?” he asked.
He alleged that authorities had chopped down species like Rhizophora mucronata and Avicennia marina and replaced them with Ceriops tagal saplings. “And almost all saplings have died,” he claimed.
Also Read: Bandra-Versova sea link crawls to sight. Bridging reality-deadlines gap still a challenge
The controversy
The Versova-Bhayandar coastal road will run from Versova in Mumbai’s western suburbs all the way to Mira-Bhayandar. This portion is an extension of the existing Coastal Road (South), the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, and the under-construction Bandra-Versova Sea Link.
The BMC says that when completed, the road will significantly cut travel time between Versova and Bhayandar from about two hours to around 20 minutes, and shorten the distance from 33 km to 23 km.
The civic body said the project will be executed in seven packages and is expected to be completed by December 2028.
But the process hasn’t been easy because of the controversy over the felling of mangroves and the loss of tree cover.
The broader Coastal Road was planned in 2018, but initially, the southern part from Marine Drive to Worli was undertaken and completed. For the Versova-Bhayandar stretch, the BMC started seeking permissions in 2024.
According to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, mangroves stretch across around 102 hectares along the path in Juhu, Oshiwara, Pahadi, Malad, Malvani, Charkop, Borivali, Dahisar, Penpada and Bhayandar.
These areas have a total of 60,000 mangroves, of which 45,000 need to be felled. The EIA also said that 652 species of trees come in the path of the road and asked the BMC to fell only those where pillars are erected. The number then comes to 353 trees.
The BMC had to take permission from the Maharashtra Mangrove Cell and the Bombay High Court, as mangroves play a crucial role in the city.
According to the EIA, mangroves maintain the stability of the shoreline and prevent the release of toxic waters into the waters of Mumbai.
“They absorb large volumes of water, which is a great boon for the city, which is prone to heavy rains and flooding. The rate of reduction of mangrove cover is a matter of great concern, and the alarm bells are loud and clear,” the EIA said in its report.
The BMC has tried to allay the concerns over the felling of mangroves. It said that 103 hectares of mangrove areas would be affected, but it would plant three times the number of trees felled in areas identified by the Mangrove Cell. The BMC prepared a Rs 300 crore plan in consultation with the Mangrove Cell.
In its order dated 12 December 2025, the Bombay High Court, while stressing the importance of mangroves, said that authorities must ensure “the re-plantation of mangroves and compensatory afforestation achieves the intended growth and survival”.
“To ensure that the plantation, maintenance and protection of mangroves and trees is effectively implemented, we direct the petitioner to file an interim application on a yearly basis, with comprehensive status/audit reports with affidavits,” it added.
While the court has allowed the BMC to go ahead with the construction, environmentalists and activists continue to hold protests against it.
“It is rather unfortunate that the environment is given away. If mangroves that act as protectors and a safety net for the city are getting knocked off, what is left?” asked Dolphy Dsouza, an activist and spokesperson of the Bombay Catholic Church, told ThePrint.
“Nobody is denying that development is a must, but not at the cost of the environment, where in the long run, the citizens of Mumbai are the biggest losers,” he added.
He said he was also disappointed that policymakers did not care enough about Mumbai, but he hoped that the messaging on social media about the protests would spark a bigger movement.
“Ultimately, the citizens are asking for the future of the city, and we could be whiling it away for development which could be misplaced,” he added.
Others echoed the same sentiment.
At the protest on Sunday, actor Richa Chadha questioned the trade-offs being made in the name of development.
“We can’t put mangroves at stake for saving 20 minutes of travel time,” she said. “There is no economy without ecology.”
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
Also Read: Denmark to Mumbai’s Coastal Road. Which other cities have musical roads?