Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Wednesday said that in light of National Green Tribunal (NGT) order, which termed Mahul ‘not good for human habitation’, it cannot force people to move there. The state government has approached the NGT for modifying its order and remove the observations about Mahul being inhabitable.
The HC has now asked the state to decide by October 1 whether to give transit rent to project-affected persons or give them alternate accommodation other than Mahul. However, the court also said that the government cannot force people to shift to Mahul until its appeal before the NGT is decided.
The division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Riyaz Chagla was hearing petition on the issue if suburban Mahul was fit to reside for persons displaced by demolitions in the vicinity of Tansa pipeline.
The BMC, in compliance with a previous order of the high court, has been demolishing encroachments, including unauthorised residential and commercial structures, along the Tansa water pipeline that runs across nine administrative wards of the city.
The state government had decided to accommodate the displaced persons in suburban Mahul village. However, those displaced have refused to move there citing high pollution levels due to nearby refineries. These people relied on an observation made to this effect by Mumbai bench of the NGT in a related matter.
The HC has also asked the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay to conduct a survey of the 49 buildings in Mahul, where project-affected persons are being shifted, and find out what kind of problems are there and submit a report before the court.
