The Bombay High Court has stayed the construction of the proposed 11-metre wide Uran Bypass Road at Uran Koliwada. Considering it would affect the livelihood of fishermen from the village, the HC came down heavily on the Maharashtra government for failing to conduct a proper survey before undertaking the project.
A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Gauri Godse, on July 29, stayed the construction while hearing a petition filed by 134 fishermen (kolis) who have been using the site as fish landing and boat maintenance area.
The petition, filed through advocate Zaman Ali, contends that the bypass will affect the petitioners’ traditional fishing rights. The government neither conducted a survey before implementing the project with regard to relocation of fishermen nor awarded any compensation.
Criticising the government stand, the HC said it was “astonishing” that no thought was given to the plight of persons directly affected by this project, even though their livelihoods would be adversely affected permanently. “Simply throwing money at people is not an answer to what is evidently a displacement problem, a question involving the livelihood of the poor and the marginalised, and essentially a question about the human condition of persons who depend on fishing for their daily earnings,” said the judges.
On July 5, the HC had asked the government and City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) to inform their policy regarding compensation and providing an alternative location to the fishermen.
However, during the hearing on July 29, additional government pleader KS Thorat informed the HC that the fisheries department will conduct a survey and submit a report, followed by an “assessment of compensation”. Meanwhile, counsel for CIDCO said that it’s only executing or implementing the bypass project required by the government.
Expressing surprise, the HC asked as to “how the project alignment could have been decided before a survey and before assessing the possible impact”. The HC said, “It surely stands to reason that any such survey would have had to be done first.”
Irked by the government’s attitude, the HC observed, “They (fishermen) are simply supposed to quietly accept a complete eradication of their centuries-old traditional fishing landing sites and are supposed to somehow manage for the rest of their lives and through future generations. No principle of development planning or environmental law allows us to accept such a stand.”
The construction work has been awarded to JM Mhatre Infra Private Limited, the lowest bidder. The court noted that this created additional complication as the stay on the work would escalate the costs and the “result will be a second level impact of an increased cost per kilometre and that will have to be borne from the public exchequer”.
