Bombay HC clears pedestrian walkway from Thane station to Vitawa

13 mangroves required to be removed for construction of the piers of the pedestrian bridge over Thane creek

Mumbai: The Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday paved the way for the construction of a pedestrian walkway from Thane railway station to Vitawa, Kalwa by allowing the project proponent, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), to cut 13 mangroves required to be removed for construction of the piers of the pedestrian bridge over Thane creek.

Bombay HC clears pedestrian walkway from Thane station to Vitawa

“Only 13 mangroves are required to be cut down for the purpose,” said the division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice VG Bisht while allowing a petition filed by the MMRDA. “Having regard to the larger public interest and the fact that not only due permission has been taken from the forest department but at the same time, compensatory afforestation has already been raised at the cost of the petitioner, in our considered view, this also satisfies the direction given by this Court in PIL No.87 of 2006,” the bench added.

MMRDA had to move the court in view of the orders passed by another bench in PIL 87 of 2006 that no construction work shall be permitted in mangroves and within the 50-meter buffer zone around mangroves without prior permission of the court.

Advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, who represented MMRDA, had pointed out that the pedestrian walkway was necessitated in view of the fact that the distance from Vitawa village in Kalwa to Thane railway station is about three kilometres by road and it takes about half an hour by bus / auto-rickshaw, depending on the traffic conditions, to reach the station from Vitawa area.

Kumbhakoni said, in order to save time, the commuters prefer to walk along the railway tracks – to cross the Thane creek -- by risking their lives to cut their long and circuitous road route to reach Thane station. “In the past, precious human lives have been lost because of accidents, and therefore, it has become necessary to construct a skywalk,” he said.

According to MMRDA, the walkway will require 0.30308 hectares of land, including 0.16 hectares of mangrove area. The authority said that the project falls in the CRZ-I area and it had obtained all necessary clearances from various authorities.