6.7 acres of mangroves in Thane to be destroyed for new road

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) will soon lose over 6.7 acres of mangroves in Thane for a new road from Kasarvadavli to Kharbao which is being termed ‘New Thane’. The compensatory afforestation will not happen in MMR or anywhere in coastal Maharashtra but in Gadchiroli district of Vidarbha.

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) will soon lose over 6.7 acres of mangroves in Thane for a new road from Kasarvadavli to Kharbao which is being termed ‘New Thane’. The compensatory afforestation will not happen in MMR or anywhere in coastal Maharashtra but in Gadchiroli district of Vidarbha. The road is being developed by MMRDA.

6.7 acres of mangroves in Thane to be destroyed for new road

MMRDA has told the authorities that at present, traffic movement from North India occurs between Thane and Bhiwandi through the existing Old Agra Road (SH-35 Thane-Bhiwandi Road) via Majiwada and through the Mumbai-Nashik highway via Kalwa. Traffic from and to these cities creates congestion and traffic snarls within Thane on account of the often overlapping movement of outbound and city traffic.

The proposed road and bridge will provide direct connectivity to Bhiwandi from Ghodbunder Road (Kasarvadavali) to Major State Highway 4 (Chinchat Anjur Phata Road) through connectivity with the Balkum-Gaimukh Coastal Road (Thane Coastal Road) and the Virar-Alibaug Multi-Modal Corridor. This is expected to decongest Thane city and surroundings of MMR.

The proposed road, which is 3.9 km long and 40 metres wide, will have eight lanes (four in each direction). Starting from Ghodbunder Road and ending at Chinchoti-Anjur Phata Road, it will cross Balkum, Gaimukh, the Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor and the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train corridor with a 100-metre basket bridge over Ulhas Creek. The compensatory afforestation will happen in Wedse tehsil of Gadchiroli, and MMRDA will have afforest 37 hectares of land.

The project was recently cleared by the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority, which said that MMRDA should allocate suitable land near the project site and provide the necessary funds to the Mangrove Cell as part of the Environmental Management Plan. Mangroves in MMR have been consistently destroyed for various projects like the bullet train, metros and roads.

Environmentalist D Stalin of NGO Vanashakti said that the proposed destruction of mangroves for the road was only the tip of the iceberg. “Huge swathes of mangrove lands are in the process of being brought on the chopping block by TMC and other urban development bodies,” he said. “There is no place to grow these mangroves under compensatory afforestation. We need to understand that the loss is permanent.”

Stalin demanded to know why the road could not be made on stilts to minimise damage to the wetlands. “A little extra money spent would save the mangroves and also allow the road to come up,” he said. “The government and environment ministry need to make it mandatory for all roads in coastal areas to be made on stilts only. This prolonged massacre of mangroves has to stop once and for all.”