Green activists feel golf course expansion in Kharghar Hill could cause disaster

The digging and cutting of the hill was nothing but quarrying and CIDCO ought to have taken environmental clearance as per an NGT ruling,” Kumar said. He also pointed out that an RTI response from the environment department showed that the EC was not obtained

Navi Mumbai: Despite concerns of landslides, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has nearly flattened Kharghar Hill for the expansion of a valley golf course, claimed environmentalists.

Green activists feel golf course expansion in Kharghar Hill could cause disaster

The green activists also alleged that CIDCO is undertaking this work without getting any environmental clearance (EC).

A complaint on this issue was filed by a Navi Mumbai green group to the Chief Minister’s Office which has been forwarded to the principal secretary of the Urban Development Department.

“The hill is not a standalone property, but part of the contiguous Kharghar Hills that stretch from the end of Belapur to Taloja which is why the destruction could cause landslides in other areas,” activist Nareshchandra Singh said.

The government allotted about 250 acres to a tribal settlement in the neighbourhood at Dhamole village for social afforestation and the people here apprehend landslides.

“When we raised an objection in February last year, the revenue officials immediately sealed the machines and stopped mining of the hill,” NatConnect director B N Kumar recalled. But the work resumed a couple of days after CIDCO claimed that the planner owned the hill he said.

“The digging and cutting of the hill was nothing but quarrying and CIDCO ought to have taken environmental clearance as per an NGT ruling,” Kumar said. He also pointed out that an RTI response from the environment department showed that the EC was not obtained.

“It is sad to see such a big hill being flattened with the least concern for nature,” he said.

“People from Dhamole settlement have protested against the hill cutting by forming a human chain following which even the police stopped the work. The hill cutting would adversely impact their homes,” Balaram Pardhi, head of the Vana Hakk Samiti said.

Nadkarni pointed out that a monsoon pond which used to be full of water for about five to six months is now buried thanks to the golf course expansion.

“It is tragic that the people of Dhamole struggle to get a pale of water, while the golf course is a guzzler,” the activist said.

Bhagwan Kesbhat, founder and CEO of Waatavaran, said the people of Dhamole have been running from pillar to post to get justice by submitting memoranda to top officials with no respite.

“There seems to be absolutely no concern for the concerns expressed by the people despite the tall claims of environmental protection being made by the government,” Singh lamented.

CIDCO did not comment on the allegations.