Mumbai: The National Green Tribunal’s recent order states that coastal states should not grant environmental clearance (EC) to development activity that falls within the regulated area as that may result in defeating the purpose of the entire exercise.
Environmentalists are of the view that the order would delay several development projects — bullet train, second phase of the coastal road, Shivaji Maharaj statue etc. In the absence of final coastal zone mapping, permissions were being given on the basis of the 1996 plan. Environmentalists contended that the process for final drafts should be expedited.
Environmentalists asserted that the state body should comply with the court’s order and publish finalised maps, according to which permissions should be given.
Stalin Dayanand, project director, Vanashakti, said, “Over the years, city areas have undergone geographical change. The mangrove cover of the city has increased due to excessive stilting. They can’t give permissions based on the 1996 CZMP, especially after the NGT order, otherwise the purpose of the NGT order is lost.”
Environmentalists said that all projects which had not got clearance from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) and Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) could not get approvals until the final coastal zone management plans were published in the public domain.
Debi Goenka, founder, Conservation Action Trust, said, “The proposal for increase in height of the Shivaji Maharaj memorial has not been cleared by the MoEF.”
However, the state environment department said that projects in the Mumbai region would not be affected as the draft plan had been prepared and was awaiting MoEF’s approval.
