The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider listing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) plea seeking permission to fell additional trees for the Goregaon–Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project, subject to conditions on compensatory afforestation.

The court had earlier, on 14 August, allowed the BMC’s tree authority to cut 95 trees for the project. On Thursday, BMC’s counsel informed a bench led by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran that more trees need to be felled, and urged that the matter be heard soon to avoid further delays. The bench agreed to consider listing the plea for hearing.

The GMLR project, one of Mumbai’s key infrastructure initiatives, is designed to link the Western Express Highway with the Eastern Express Highway, cutting travel time between Goregaon and Mulund by nearly one hour.

The BMC, which is implementing the project, had earlier assured the court that it would strictly comply with compensatory afforestation norms, including the geo-tagging of saplings planted to replace the trees cut for construction.

Once completed, the Rs 130 billion GMLR project is expected to improve east–west road connectivity, ease congestion on arterial routes, and enhance intra-city travel efficiency across Mumbai’s suburbs.