From south Mumbai to the city suburbs, Mumbaikars gathered to spread a crucial message on environment.
This World Environment Day, Mumbaikars associated with nearly 40 NGOs joined hands over the execution of key infrastructure projects across the city.
"Why can't we have development that is environment sensitive and why can't we have an attitude towards environment that could create some room for development? It can go hand in hand," said writer and poet Javed Akhtar.
The key demands of the citizens' groups were - Halt the coastal road, metro lines should go underground and the Aarey Colony trees should not be touched to build a metro depot for the metro rail network.
"Why are we fighting against coastal road, because it will cause damage to our coastline. The elevated metro line will cause terrible air pollution, we are against the shed at Aarey because you cannot get rid of the trees in the forest area and making affordable housing on salt pan land will cause flooding in Mumbai," explained Shyama Kulkarni, a trustee at the NGO AGNI.
In India's most congested metropolis with the least amount of open space in cities across the world, the concerns are even greater.
"We have been told that we will have a coastal road, when we all look to the sea as being one of the primary sources for our quality of life in Mumbai. If you take that from us then Mumbai will be like any other city," said environmentalist Sumaira Abdulali.
From south Mumbai to the city suburbs, right upto Navi Mumbai, Mumbaikars gathered at the Juhu beach to spread a crucial message - let's make Mumbai a world class city but without harming the environment.