Greens oppose Palm Beach service road work

A service road parallel to the Palm Beach Road in Navi Mumbai has been facing stiff opposition from environmental activists, who claimed the work was in gross violation of environmental norms. On Friday, a team of officials from Mangrove cell visited the work site and sought from the contractor the mandatory permission from the high court to proceed with the work

Navi Mumbai: A service road parallel to the Palm Beach Road in Navi Mumbai has been facing stiff opposition from environmental activists, who claimed the work was in gross violation of environmental norms.

Greens oppose Palm Beach service road work

On Friday, a team of officials from Mangrove cell visited the work site and sought from the contractor the mandatory permission from the high court to proceed with the work.

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) In September 2022 proposed the construction of a 465-metre service road from TS Chanakya junction to Plot no 7 of Nerul’s sector 58 at the cost of ₹3 crore. Prior to the commencement of the work, the civic body had sought clearance from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCMA) on April 11, 2022, and from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) on June 14.

“The orders issued by both the authorities to the corporation were to acquire prior permission from the HC before commencing any kind of construction activity. However, the NMMC is working in complete violation of the orders and has not only dug up the entire stretch, but also broken a pre-existing culvert to build a new one,” Sunil Agarwal, an environmental activist, said.

The environmentalists also claim that the project is in proximity to the CRZ zone. “Even in the 244th minutes of the meeting of SEIAA, it is clearly mentioned that the reason for laying emphasis on acquiring permission from the HC is because the project site falls in CRZ–1A 50-metre mangrove buffer zone. Hence, there can be no construction work done and therefore the ongoing illegal activity was communicated to the Mangrove department,” Agarwal added.

The work is likely to benefit private developers alleged conservationist and member of the Mangrove cell, Dayannand Stalin. “The primary beneficiary of the service road will be private developers and their grand residential projects. The construction is in gross violation of the Environment Protection Act and the state government will be apprised about the issue,” Stalin said.

The conservationist also procured details of the order issued by the HC on April 24. “The contractor was misleading the cell by stating that the bench is on vacation and therefore no order copy was available. I procured the copy online and found that no permission was granted,” he said.

The NMMC, meanwhile, maintained that the work does not violate any norms or is not being done without the knowledge of the HC. “Presently only the existing approach road to TS Chanakya is being asphalted as it was in bad condition and does not require any kind of permission. No other work is done in the CRZ zone as the corporation is awaiting order copy from the HC. The service road is a missing link, which was always existing both in CIDCO planning as well as in NMMC development plan and will help in decongestion of traffic on Palm Beach Road,” city engineer Sanjay Desai said.