Navi Mumbai: Environmentalists Urge CM Shinde To Save Mangroves & Wetlands From Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link Development Impact

Environmentalists from Navi Mumbai have written to the Chief Minister to ensure that his August office look into the matter to restore the mangroves, wetlands and mudflats that have been destroyed in the creation of temporary casting yards for the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL).

The MMRDA in its Rapid EIA had sought permission specifically stating that the casting yards, spread across over 40 hectares, at Sewree and Navi Mumbai ends of the MTHL are going to be temporary.

“Temporary sites like casting yard, jetty will be used for construction works. Housing of construction works will be provided outside/away from the construction site,” the MMRDA EIA said.

The letter has been jointly written by NatConnect Foundation, Shri Ekvira Aai Pratishtan and Gawhan Koliwada Fishing Community Cooperative Society.

'16 acres of mangroves levelled'

The breakup as given by MMRDA include casting yard on Navi Mumbai side CRZ I (all of Mangroves) 16.15 Ha, CRZ II 2.82 Ha and CRZ-IV 1.99 Ha while at Sewree, it's Right of Way (ROW) 9.91 Ha and Casting yard 15.17 Ha.

"These locations will be away from the habitation and CRZ areas and close to the sea. Hence, about 19 hectares, including 16 hectares of mangroves, has been levelled at Ulwe/Gavhan in Navi Mumbai for the casting yard here," the letter said.

According to the letter, no reclamation is envisaged in the bridge work. The casting yard area would be filled up, levelled / paved to make it fit for the intended use. This would also form the main fabrication/casting and stacking yard for the major bridge elements and storage yard for quarried materials like murrum, aggregates and sand required for the project. Since the project requires movement of men, material and machinery for construction, a jetty will be constructed at the casting yard for this purpose.

All this is in urban area, under CIDCO notified area on Nhava side and MBPT land on Sewri side, it added.

Activists disapprove the move

"Now, it is clear that the casting yard landfill was temporary, but CIDCO is converting it into a permanent reclamation and leasing it out. It has already wrongly allotted 10 acres at Ulwe for the Tirupati Balaji Temple. On our previous complaint against CIDCO for violation of CRZ norms, you have already asked the Environment and UD to look into the issue. We await their reports," the activists said.

Stating that MMRDA rightly admits in its EIA report that Mangroves are one such sensitive biotic assemblage found in coastal tracts within the tropical zones, the letter said that these are considered sensitive ecological systems, because of their highly interactive state of interdependence between the constituent members of flora and fauna. These have typical marker flora and fauna so as to become distinguishable from other coastal floral assemblages.

"The mud-flats of the Konkan coastal area describe variable associations between terrestrial and marine environment. Because of such variable dispositions, the available nutrients necessary for the initiation and sustenance of biotic assemblages vary both in composition and density," the CM was informed through the letter.

The Shivaji Nagar or Nhava mud-flat, compared to the Sewri mud-flat, receives more nutrients from the two flanking creeks, namely the Panvel Creek and the Nhave Creek, the Sewri mud-flat is flanked by a land mass supporting urban activities, from which it receives very specialised types of chemicals, some of which are killers of halophytic flora. The biotic assemblages in these two mud-flats are, therefore, likely to be different, the letter stated.

Call to action amid environmental damage

Given the ecological significance of mangroves and mudflats, acknowledged by the MMRDA in its EIA report, the environmentalists have requested the Chief Minister's intervention to restore the affected areas; direct MMRDA to restore the mangroves, intertidal wetlands, and mudflats that have been adversely impacted and transfer the custody to Mangrove Cell and hand over these coastal areas to the Mangrove Cell for conservation and protection to ensure their sustained well-being.

"These coastal areas were not only vital for the environment but also served as traditional fishing grounds for the local community until the initiation of casting yard work. The restoration of these ecosystems will not only preserve our environmental heritage but also reinstate the livelihoods of the local fishing community. We also request you to hand over these coastal areas to the Mangrove Cell for conservation and protection," the activists stated.

"These were the traditional fishing areas till about 2018-19 when the casting yard work had started.

The restoration would help the local fishing community who have been deprived of their constitutional right to practice their trade for a living," the environmentalists added.

Lot of damage is being done to the environment in the name of infrastructure development, B N Kumar, Director of NatConnect Foundation, pointed out. “It is time that we started undoing this damage now,” he said, stressing the need to restore the mangroves, intertidal wetlands and mudflats which have been buried for the temporary casting yards of MTHL.

Concerns over permanent landfill

MMRDA records clearly show that the casting yards are of purely temporary nature and no one has any business to make these landfills a permanent reclamation, Kumar said.

As it is, CIDCO has begun to lease out the temporary landfills for projects such as the Tirupati Balaji temple at Ulwe and to a school, he pointed out. NatConnect has already moved the National Green Tribunal (NGT) against this.

Kumar has expressed the fear that the creeping allocation, if unchecked, will spread and the entire 40 hectares landfilled for the temporary casting yards at Sewri in Mumbai and Ulwe in Navi Mumbai will be sold out thus permanently damaging the environment.

He and fellow environmentalists have expressed the hope that the CM would appreciate the seriousness of the problem and act.

He lamented that at a time when the world is concerned over the rising sea levels, in India, the governments are encouraging and facilitating increased construction into the seas.