The coastal road project is one of the pet projects of the current Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. It is estimated that the whole project will require an investment of INR 14,000 crore Mumbai coastal road.
This project has run into some trouble after people started raising questions on the number of trees that had to be cut to execute this. There were also objections from fishermen community on how this will impact their livelihood.
Now Supreme Court too has asked an important question regarding this project. On Tuesday, it asked why it needed to reclaim 75 hectares of the sea when only 20 were required for the road. This question was raised in Supreme Court by Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for a PIL petitioner. He told the bench that consisted of CJI S A Bobde and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant that for a nine-km stretch of the 32-km coastal road, only 20 hectares was required. He asked why project proponent L&T was acquiring 75.
Following this, the bench has asked L&T to file an affidavit explaining the need for so much reclamation.
A Supreme Court order from December 17, 2019 allowed the work on this road to begin after the Bombay High Court put a stay on the work on the basis of having no clearances from wildlife or environmental agencies. In its order, the Supreme Court also asked the authorities to construct a public garden as well as a waterpark on both sides of the proposed road until further orders.
The bench even raised concerns on how the work had started even before the project got a green light. Answering to this, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for L&T, said over 3,000 objections were filed but none by Divan's client.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta who was appearing from BMC’s side batted the question that has been making the headlines since the last one week. This was in regards to the objections raised by the fishermen community that their livelihood will be impacted by the coastal road project. He said that BMC was taking all the necessary steps to protect fishing and assured that affected fishermen would be compensated.
While SC has allowed the work to continue, L&T has been asked not to carry out ancillary development of water parks and gardens along the road till further orders. The final hearing on this matter will be held in April.
Perhaps with the view to address all the concerns regarding the environment, BMC is contemplating on using eco-friendly concrete for the construction of the Coastal Road Project. It is said that this method will be used particularly in areas that have marine life. This eco-friendly concrete is a mixture that uses less cement and thus is less harmful to the environment around it, especially during construction.
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