July 13, 2020: The state has granted coastal regulation zone (CRZ) clearances to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to cut 1,001 mangrove trees for the eight-lane Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway, which will pass through the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
The details of the clearance came to light earlier this week when the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) published the minutes of its June 11 meeting, during which the proposal was discussed and accorded conditional clearance. It has now been recommended to the Union environment ministry.
The 379-km greenfield expressway connecting Mumbai to Vadodara expects to reduce the travel time between the two cities to four hours instead of the current seven through national highway (NH)-8. Of the 379-km, 78.1km (phase II) extends from Vasai to Talasari across 4km CRZ area, encompassing 32.4 hectares (ha) crossing the Vaitarna River. Of this, 3.2ha is CRZ1A (the most protected coastal zone), which is home to 1,001 mangrove trees, while 2.68ha is mangrove buffer. The maximum mangrove losses would occur at Navghar and Vadiv villages in Palghar, falling under the Safale forest range.
“As the project proponents (NHAI) have decided to build much of the road through the mangroves on stilts and considered the least damaging alignment to forest cover, the project was issued conditional clearance,” said a senior MCZMA official.
On September 17, 2018, the Bombay high court (HC) had said that no development permission shall be issued by any authority in Maharashtra for any area under mangroves. “Regardless of ownership of land having mangroves, all constructions taking place within 50 metres (m) on all the sides [of mangrove stretches] shall be forthwith stopped,” the HC had said.
According to Neenu Somraj, deputy conservator of forest and member, MCZMA, NHAI will need permissions from the HC to cut the trees. “Minimal mangrove areas will be affected. However, the planning body will need permissions from the HC, and apply for forest clearance under the Forest Conservation (FC) Act, 1980. An area for compensatory afforestation will be identified during the forest clearance process.”
The exact loss of mangrove trees was identified by the Dahanu forest department, but NHAI has not been asked to obtain any clearances from the Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority.
According to the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the project, which HT has reviewed, the project is likely to have an impact on a total forest area of 191.58ha across Vasai, Palghar, Talasari and Dahanu (including Dahanu taluka eco-fragile zone across 28 km) would lead to the diversion of 13% reserve forest, 2% mangrove forest, 71% protected forests and 14% private forests, and a total of 69,095 trees are expected to be lost. The expressway would pass at a distance of 1.28 km from the boundary of the Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary and 0.45 km away from its eco-sensitive zone boundary, the EIA read.
NHAI had applied for clearances under the FC Act for 94.5ha forest diversion for phase II in 2018 but retracted the proposal as a much larger forest area is involved.
“We welcome the CRZ clearance. Based on the clearance, we will be applying for FC for the entire 191.58ha. All the conditions proposed by the authorities concerned will be followed. We are ready to ensure compensatory afforestation as much as 10 times the number for the mangroves lost,” said B Mukhopadhyay, general manager, environment, NHAI.
Meanwhile, during MCZMA’s meeting on Tuesday, a conditional clearance was accorded to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) to construct sea walls (anti-sea erosion bunds) at Gharapuri Island, Panje village in Uran, and a boat landing jetty at Nhava. The proposal was deferred last year by the coastal authority over concerns of mangrove loss.
“Loss of mangroves is yet to be ascertained but JNPT needs to obtain the HC’s clearance,” said Somraj.
Environmentalists were upset with the latest decisions. “At a time when we need to protect the remaining mangroves and wetlands in MMR, such clearances defeat the purpose of having an environment and climate change department,” said BN Kumar, director, NatConnect Foundation, a not-for-profit environment group.
Debi Goenka, a petitioner before the HC in the matter of mangroves, said, “A short-sighted approach under the guise of creating artificial infrastructure is destroying natural carbon sinks without any realisation of how it will impact us in the future.”
Source: Hindustan Times
