In order to facilitate the tunnel project, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning to cut around 700 trees in the entrance of the Film City, Goregaon. The 22 acre plot is to set up the casting yard and to set up the spot to insert the boring machine for the tunnel. Most of the trees already been put up with the notices for cutting down.
The film city is located near the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) which is a forest area nesting wildlife including Leopards, Deer, Sambar and Nilgai. Even the tribal people are still living inside the SGNP. Most of the time Peacocks and leopards are found wandering into Film City.
Assistant engineer Ashok Mali, who is in-charge of the project said, “We want to launch the shaft from there and have asked for land from Film City. We are planning to remove 700 trees. The decision will be taken by the tree authority. The trees will either be transplanted or removed.”
Swati Mhase-Patil, managing director of Film City confirmed that the BMC has asked for a land but they are not decided yet. Further some records show that Film City has been illegally occupying over 51 acres of forest land and refused to hand over the land back to the forest department.
Goregaon–Mulund Link Road’s Detailed Project Report (DPR) and alignment options were prepared by PADECO India. On July 13, 2024 Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for this project.
This project is calculated to cut down travel time between Mulund and Goregaon from over an hour to 20 mins. This is the second tunnel project under SGNP after the 11.84 kilo meter Thane-Borivali project.