Mumbai: Challenging the construction of a seawall at Aksa beach by the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB), environmentalists have moved the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The petitioners – NGO NatConnect Foundation’s director BN Kumar and activist Zoru Bhathena – said they are “aggrieved by the indiscriminate, illegal and unnecessary construction” in the ecologically fragile coastal regulation zone (CRZ 1) land at Aksa beach, under “sea front development and beautification” commissioned by the MMB”.
MMB allegedly violated Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority's directions
As per the petition filed on Wednesday, the MMB violated the directions stipulated by the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) to the project proposals in different shapes from November 2018 to June 2021. Moreover, the seawall violates the order by a special bench of the NGT imposing a ban on seawalls at all beaches across India, the petition states.
Apart from the MMB, the petition cited the MCZMA, the State Environment and Climate Control department and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Control (MOEFCC) as respondents.
Aksa beach in Malad’s Madh falls in the category of CRZ I area under the CRZ Notification, 2011. The presence of the beach provides a crucial purpose of acting as a natural barrier protecting the region from flooding during monsoon months, the petitioners said.
The activists highlighted the issue when they learnt about MMB deploying earth movers to excavate the sand, level the beach and concretise a wide span of the beach apparently to construct a concrete bund. They complained to the Chief Minister and the MOEFCC alleging violations.
No intervention by the authority
Despite the CM as well as the MOEFCC directing the environment department to look into the complaints, no authority intervened and thus allowed the MMB to nearly complete the construction of about 600mt and 4mt wide concrete road in the middle of the beach.
“With no options left, we decided to knock on the judiciary’s doors and move the NGT,” Kumar said. He said they are shocked to see such construction work directly on the beach, merely a few feet away from the Arabian Sea. “It is evident that the sea wall and the adjoining road divides the beach into two, as it is being constructed right in the middle,” Kumar said.
“The beach will be completely eroded if the wall is permitted to exist as along with the road it will disallow natural deposition of sediments/sand on the other side of the wall/road,” said Bhathena.
