Mumbai: The Bombay high court has given relief to fishermen along the Mumbai coast. The court directed the state government not to stop them from installing nets along the coast. The direction came after the fishermen approached the high court alleging that the police was removing nets from shallow waters due to which the fishermen could not carry on with their regular fishing business.
A division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice N.M. Jamdar was hearing a petition filed by Worli Koliwada Nakhva and other organisations. According to the petition, due to the coastal road project, the business of fishermen from Kandivali to Marine Lines would be impacted. The petition also alleged that the requisite environmental and CRZ permissions were not being taken by the state and that the proposals were still pending with the central government.
According to them, the state government had not conducted any study on what would be the impact on the fishermen’s livelihood before sanctioning the coastal road project. BMC counsel informed the court that in the year 2017, fishermen’s organisations had given a no objection certificate to the state government despite the fishermen opposing now.
The petitioners argued that they were not the organisation that signed the NoC and further said that the fishermen were not against the coastal road but due to the project, their livelihood was going to be impacted.
