Navi Mumbai: The state-owned City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) in Navi Mumbai is accused of violating environmental laws. The Center has requested that the Maharashtra Government look into these claims.
This comes after the Prime Minister received a complaint from the environmental watchdog NatConnect Foundation alleging that building is occurring “dangerously” near mangroves and the Panvel Creek, despite widespread worries about sea level rise. The 10,000 residents and numerous small business owners who will be housed in the Kharghar project, according to the NatConnect Foundation, will always be at risk of tidal wave assaults.
Up to 17 towers would be built at Kharghar alone, CIDCO disclosed to the media. This is a catastrophic invitation, according to Kumar.
Kumar used the PM Office Public Grievances (PMOPG) website to register his complaint. The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) has now been requested to research the matter and provide a report by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MOEFCC).
The Coastal Regulation Zone regulations have been authorized for enforcement and monitoring by the States and Union Territories under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, according to Dr. Raghavan P., the MOEFCC scientist in the CRZ division, who signed the letter dated August 23. According to NatConnect’s complaint, the PMAY projects have emerged close to mangroves, mudflats, and intertidal wetlands, especially in the Mansarovar and Kharghar districts.
In particular, the NGO noted using Google Earth maps that the Kharghar project’s compound wall on the northern side of the railway station nearly reaches the mangroves, with a gap of 8 to 25 meters separating the sea plants and the building. The EC summary made it very evident that the 50-meter buffer line must be kept in place and that no mangroves will be impacted during the project’s construction. According to NatConnect, there should be a lot of tall trees with foliage along the buffer line to reduce any fugitive dust emissions or other issues that might be directed into the mangrove area.
The projects were explicitly mentioned as falling within CRZ1 at the 143rd meeting of the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority on February 4, 2020. As a result, CIDCO was forbidden from carrying out any development in the 50-meter mangrove buffer zone and was required to maintain a 100-meter CRZ setback for the creek.
However, Jyoti Nadkarni, an activist living in Kharghar, noted that the PMAY structures have moved up into the danger line, making the Kharghar project a frightening scene. Since water follows its own path and does not pass through CIDCO walls, the compound wall’s pushing of the high tide line towards the Panvel Creek will inevitably result in flooding in other locations, the speaker added.
Source: Deccan Herald
