Hearing a petition against the felling of trees for the Joka-Esplanade Metro, Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam of Calcutta High Court on Tuesday said it had to be borne in mind that “population is growing” and “there is a demand for extension of the time of Metro train”.

“One thing we have to bear in mind. Population is growing. Now there is a demand for extension of the time of Metro train also,” the Chief Justice said when the lawyer for the petitioner was arguing his case.

A final order on the petition is awaited. “Judgement reserved,” the Chief Justice said after hearing all sides on Tuesday.

A division bench headed by the Chief Justice was hearing a petition by the NGO People United for Better Living in Calcutta (PUBLIC). The petition argues that the construction of a new Metro station in the Maidan area will forever ruin the greens, considered the city’s lungs.

“We are opposing the felling of trees, which is a result of the construction of the station. Therefore we are opposing both,” said Pradeep Kakkar, a founder member of PUBLIC.

“The decision to set up a Metro station on Maidan, adjoining Victoria Memorial, has been taken without relying on any study on the benefits that will flow from the location of this station,” the petition says.

The Chief Justice, who was hearing the matter along with Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya, spoke about striking a balance, possibly between development and natural environment.

“The Supreme Court has maintained a balance. It is not in all cases that permissions have been granted. In the reserve forest area, suppose some resort is coming up that is being directed to be closed.... There are several measures which have been adopted throughout the country. So at times, the balancing has to be done.”

He also raised the point that Calcutta was the first city with a Metro. “Admittedly this Metro will go beneath ground. Calcutta was the first city where the Metro was implemented. And it has got the distinction of the first underwater Metro,” the Chief Justice said.

The Victoria station is part of the underground section of the Joka-Esplanade Metro corridor. The corridor goes underground in Mominpore.

Trains on this line now run between Joka and Majerhat.

The lawyer appearing for the RVNL, the executing agency of the project, told the court that they had done compensatory plantation according to the rules. The permission to fell the trees from the state authorities was obtained only after the compensatory plantation was done, he said.

They also intend to transplant the trees that will be uprooted, the lawyer said.

The counsel for PUBLIC argued that the survival rate for transplanted trees was very low.

The high court recently asked Metro Railway to “consider” a petition that sought a direction to the carrier to extend the timings of the last trains on the north-south corridor (Kavi Subhas-Dakshineswar), its most popular section.

The last trains on this corridor leave New Garia and Dum Dum at 9.40pm. From Dakshineswar, the last train leaves at 9.28pm. The petitioner submitted that the Metro services in other cities are on till “around 11pm”.