Mumbai: In clear violation of the conditions set by the Union ministry for environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) for granting permission for reclamation to build the coastal road, the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) recently approved installation of hoardings along the coastal road on the landward side of the road.
The CRZ clearance granted in May 2017, clearly stipulates under Condition A (v) that the reclaimed land shall not be exploited for commercial or residential purposes. It states, “Break up of 90ha of land to be reclaimed shall be submitted within six months of receipt of the clearance to the regional office of the ministry and to concerned agencies in the state govt along with justification thereof with a written undertaking that the reclaimed land shall not be used for any commercial or residential purpose.”
The BMC violated its own written undertaking to the Centre that it would not allow the reclaimed land to be used for any commercial or residential purpose by seeking permission for putting up hoardings at Tata Garden, Amarsons Garden, and Lala Lajpatrai Garden, alleged activists. The MCZMA granted permission for a unipole screen arrangement for advertisement.
Activist Godfrey Pimenta said, “The Union ministry must immediately intervene in this matter and impose a stay on the implementation of the approval granted by the MCZMA.”
Activist Debi Goenka said the decision is completely unethical. “The BMC is a public authority and must abide by the letter and spirit of the law and not behave like a fly-by-night operator. We have been saying from the beginning that this commercial exploitation will be done in bits and pieces. There are reports that BMC has proposed two fire stations on the coastal road, and before we know, they would completely commercially exploit the reclaimed area,” he said.
State environment minister Pankaja Munde said the decision was taken by the board before she took charge. “I shall call for the documents and if there is any violation of law, I shall take action,” she said.