NGT issues notices to Centre, State on Shivaji memorial.

Following a plea filed by the fishermen’s community in Maharashtra, Pune-based National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued notices to the Centre and Maharashtra government seeking clarifications on the environmental clearance and coastal regulation zone (CRZ) clearances given to the Chhatrapati Shivaji memorial off the Mumbai coast before September 30.

The community claims that the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) granted the environmental clearances to the project without conducting a public hearing and taking the consent of opposing parties, which they deem mandatory.

The Environment Interest Litigation plea filed by the Maharashtra Macchimar Kriti Samiti before the NGT said the Maharashtra government did not conduct the public hearing before the Environment Assessment Committee citing, “larger public interest” and the memorial’s stature as a ‘national monument’, based on which, the applicants claim, the environmental clearance was given by the MoEF.

Aseem Sarode, the legal representative of the applicants, said that among other things, “there are certain processes like taking consent and conducting a public hearing, which need to be followed before granting the CRZ clearances, but they have not been followed in this case.”

He also claimed that the no-objection certificates for the construction of the project were issued by several bodies including Mumbai Port Trust and Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority, without considering the environmental dangers posed by the mid-sea memorial. The need for oceanology and biodiversity studies and surveys before construction of the memorial were also ignored, he said.

According to Mr. Sarode, though the MoEF has disallowed dredging at the site, a two-km pipeline will be constructed under water to provide fresh water during construction as well as for tourists afterwards at the cost of Rs. 100 crore. “This alone will disrupt the marine and aquatic biodiversity and also violate the MoEF's directives,” he said.

“Along with being a threat to the biodiversity, the construction of the memorial will destroy the livelihood of the fishing community of the area as it is a prime fishing spot where several species of marine life are found,” Damodar Tandel, president of Maharashtra Machimar Kriti Samiti and one of the petitioners, said. He also said the waste generated by the large number of tourists to the spot will damage the ecology of the area.

Mr. Sarode also said the project will destroy 110 km of coastline. He said he and the petitioners will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi presenting these facts, and urge him not to perform the ‘bhoomi pujan’ of the project.

THE HINDU