The Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) has started relocating the tetrapod rocks from Haji Ali to the existing promenade at Bandra Bandstand and Carter Road.
For carrying out reclamation works for the ongoing Mumbai Coastal Road Project, the tetrapods had to be removed from the seashores of south Mumbai. Earlier in a meeting in February, officials of the MMB had floated a proposal to the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) for relocating the tetrapods at the existing carter road promenade.
Officials of MMB also asserted that relocating the tetrapods would prevent the promenade from erosion. Following the meeting, the chief engineer of the MMB had written a letter to MCZMA urging the authority for immediate approval of the tetrapod removal.
"Promenade at Carter Road and Bandstand is getting damaged due to high tide of the sea, hence protection of the sea is utmost important," said the MMB in the later. Following which the authority granted permission to the board for relocating the tetrapods and to acquire an order of the high court before relocating the pods to Carter Road as it's a mangrove prone area.
Following which heaps of tetrapods are being dumped near the Bandstand and Carter Road promenade at Bandra and this has miffed environmentalists of the city.
"This is completely absurd, there's no point in dumping all these tetrapods just beside the sea, I don't know how will this help the seashores," said environmentalists and green activists- Zoru Bhathena.
"They could have retained the tetrapods at Haji Ali and should have easily buried them below by dumping mud over them," Bhathena added.
Meanwhile, local residents of Bandra said that the heaps of tetrapod rocks don't do justice to the sea.
"If the authorities are so much concerned about protecting the seaface then they should have laid it in a proper manner instead of dumping it," said Maria D'souza, a resident.
"The water at Bandstand and Carter Road is shallow and it doesn't have that much force that we would need to put pods," said Gavin Paul, another resident.
Meanwhile, officials from MMB backed their move stating this was necessary.
"During the high-tide the force of water is heavy and if it's not controlled then it would gradually destroy the promenade, the pods are being laid in a precautionary manner," said an official.
"The pods are dumped right now because they have just been brought, these are heavy objects and will take some time to lay them on the surface eventually," the official added.
