Wildlife Board defers decision on new Virar-Alibaug route
Mumbai: The State Board for Wildlife (SBW) at its Wednesday meeting deferred to the next meeting a decision on the Virar-Alibaug multimodal corridor proposed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The project, proposed to run parallel to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, has sought nearly 14.8 hectare of the national park. However, environmentalists have raised concerns over the possibility of animals in the SGNP increasingly meeting with accidents due to project.
A member of SBW said, “Enough information was not shared on the project. Hence, we have not approved the project. Since it is a serious matter and needs to be discussed in greater detail, we have kept it on hold.”
There is another proposal for geotechnical survey and monitoring of environmental impact on SGNP in connection with the Thane-Borivali tunnel.