Bombay HC directive on Mumbai’s water pollution

Mumbai: The Bombay HC on Friday directed the Maharashtra government and the BMC to file an affidavit and give details of the steps taken to ensure untreated sewage water is not discharged in the Mithi river and in the coastline of Mumbai.

A city-based NGO Citizen Circle for Social Welfare and Education (CCSWE), has filed a PIL complaining about BMC’s negligence in discharging untreated sewage at the city’s coastline and for not laying down a proper drainage system because of which slum dwellers and small industrial units are discharging sewage into said river.

Advocate Shehzad Naqvi, appearing on behalf of Arshad Ali, CCSWE president, contended that the coastal water pollution is hampering the entire eco-system. According to the petition, members of the NGO visited the coastline of Mumbai on July 30 and were, “shocked, surprised and dismayed to notice that there were several points along the coastline at Marine Drive where they found sewage discharging through big sewage pipes directly into the Arabian Sea at the coastline. It is the duty of the BMC to discharge sewage at a distance of about 3.7kms from the coastline, which is a practice followed worldwide in order to keep the coastline clean.”

Apart from carrying their own survey, the petitioner is relying on several news articles that have suggested that, “Mumbai’s coastline is now considered among the most polluted in the world.”

The petitioner has requested court to direct the government to frame appropriate guidelines to stop pollution of the coastal waters as well as stop flow of sewage into the Mithi. It prayed that the government, the BMC and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board be directed to discharge the sewage at an appropriate distance