Mumbai: In a major jolt to the Maharashtra government and the BMC, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday stayed construction work of the proposed Coastal Road project.
The court has directed the authorities to stop work and asked them to maintain a “status quo” on the site where reclamation is being carried out. The authorities had not heeded court’s directives in the matter earlier, when it asked them to cease the reclamation work.
This comes as a setback for the BJP and the Shiv Sena led saffron alliance in the state, as the stay has been imposed just a few days before polling starts in Mumbai. The bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Nitin Jamdar ordered the status quo on a bunch of petitions challenging the project.
The petitioners – fishermen and some activists – had claimed the authorities have proceeded with reclamation at major areas in the city, and that too, without obtaining the mandatory green clearances. The petitioners also claimed that the project will have an adverse impact on the fishermen community as it would take away their basic source of livelihood.
The BMC and the state, on the other hand, maintained that it has taken all the requisite permissions from concerned authorities and that its work isn’t illegal from any aspect. The authorities – the BMC and the State — urged the bench not to stay the work as it would entail a loss of Rs 10 crore per day.
During the course of the hearing on Tuesday, senior advocates Gayatri Singh and Janak Dwarkadas told the bench that reclamation work was going on at an unprecedented pace at Breach Candy, at Napean Sea Road, near Tata Gardens and at Worli.
The 34-km proposed coastal road will connect Marine Lines in south Mumbai to Kandivli in suburban Mumbai. As of now, the authorities have already started working on the 10 kilometre stretch from Marine Lines to the Bandra-Worli Seal link at Worli. The bench has posted the matter for a further hearing on April 23.
