Thane: A legal notice has been issued to five state government bodies after a large scale dumping of debris in mangroves and creek areas in Thane has been noticed.
The notice has been issued by Thane's citizens activist and member of Wetland Grievance Redressal Committee of Thane collector, Rohit Joshi. However, there is no response from any of the five agencies so far. Hence, the activist may soon approach High Court.
"The notice was issued after inspecting the sites allotted for waterfront project at creek side in Thane. The inspection revealed the serious violation of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance and destruction of mangroves and creek by dumping of debris. The notices were issued on December 3, 2020 to Thane Municipal Corporation, State-level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Principal Secretary of environment department, Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA), Additional Principal Conservator of Forest and Mangrove Cell," said Rohit Joshi.
"The reply to the notice was expected within 7 days. However, so far we have received no response from any of these agencies. The notice highlighted the urgent attention of concerned department to the huge violation of CRZ notification of 2011, Environment Protection Act 1986 and Forest Conservation Act 1980,” added Joshi. The photos captured by the activists of the site clearly show the illegal dumping of debris over the mangroves along the Thane creek, which consists of the location provided for waterfront project.
"Gaimukh Naglabandar, Kolshet, Saket-Balkum and Kopri-Mithibunder are among the destructive area at the Thane creek. The project was approved under the CRZ conditions," said Joshi.
The construction of Thane's waterfront project began in 2017. Covering an area of 72.2 hectares, TMC’s waterfront beautification project extends up to 10.58km, covering eight areas — Kopri-Mithbunder, Gaikmukh, Kavesar-Waghbil, Saket-Balkum, Nagla bunder, Kolshet, Parsik-Retibunder and Kalwa-Shastrinagar.
