Mumbai: The BMC has begin the cutting of mangroves for the Coastal Road North project. Although is only peripheral as of now, the mangrove removal with destroy the natural flood plain and rainwater will enter the residential areas, the locals fear.
However, BMC officials involved in the project said that the cutting is linear and natural water ways of the mangrove land are not affected. They added that the water on the marshy land is from the creek, which does not overflow, and not from the sea which has waves.
"The BMC has marked boundary for mangrove cutting, and has completed 60 per cent of the mangrove removal within that boundary in Charkop Sector 8. We fear the rainwater will enter residential areas as the mangrove land is adjacent to our buildings. It is obvious that removal of mangrove will disturb the natural ecosystem as it acts as a buffer," said Mili Shetty, a local resident and activist.
Shetty said that to her RTI query regarding hydrological studies undertaken for flooding pattern/mitigation measures of possible flooding at Charkop Sector 8, due to the construction of Versova Bhayandar interchange, the BMC's bridges department responded that they do not have any information.
"If they haven't conducted a scientific study or have mitigation measures of possible flooding, how is the BMC sure there won't be any water logging in residential areas due to the project?, she questioned, adding that as major part of mangroves and trees removal for the project will be lost monsoon, if not this year but what guarantee BMC gives the areas will not face flooding in near future.
More than 45,000 mangroves on the sprawling land of 103.65 hectares will be impacted for the Coastal Road North project. The FPJ had reported on March 11 that the BMC has begun cutting of mangroves for the project on the surface area, and along with the state forest department, demarcation will be done for step-by-step cutting with the help of GPS before entering the dense mangrove area.
The BMC's Tree Authority recently approved the cutting of around 1900 trees for the project, however, the tree cutting has not started yet.
The proposed second phase of the Coastal Road has been divided into six different packages.
Package A will cover 4.5 km between Versova and Bangur Nagar (Goregaon)
Package B will cover 1.66 km between Bangur Nagar and Mindspace (Malad)
Packages C and D will include twin tunnels – both 3.9 km long – connecting Mindspace in Malad with Charkop in Kandivali.
Package E will span 3.78 km, connecting Charkop with Gorai
Package F will be 3.69 km long and connect Gorai with Dahisar.
From Dahisar, there will be another 5.6 km elevated corridor that will extend till Bhayandar
Total 10 interchange / entry exist in Coastal Road North Project
1) VBSL Exist - JVPD Flyover to Andheri East WEH
2) Madh Interchange to Jogeshwar East WEH
3) Lokhandwala Interchange to At Grade - Mrinaltai Gore to WEH at Nesco Goregaon East
4) Mind Space to GMLR Connector at WEH and GMLR Tunnel entry For ES
5) Mith Chowky junction Rayan School to Ramchandra Bridge feeder to Mind Space interchange
6) Charkop interchange at Sector o8 to SV Road Poisar junction at grade than Proposed Bridge at Poisar to WEH ( In planning stage )
7) Gorai Interchange to Link road till kora Kendra at grade
8) Dahisar Connector to link road and then till SV Road at grade then Sudhir Phadake bridge - WEH
9) Kandarpada Rotary to Link Road then Dahisar Bridge till till Naka
10 ) Bhayander rotary to Bridge till Kashmira junction
The length of the road will be 26.3 km
The total project cost is estimated at Rs 22,000 crore
More than 45,000 mangroves will be affected on the sprawling land of 103.65 hectares
Of which 9,000 will be permanently axed
The remaining will be re-planted and rejuvenated in the same area after four years
For compensatory plantations, land is identified in Chandrapur and Palghar
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