Green NGO moves SC to halt construction on Navi Mumbai wetland

The site is located on the upmarket Palm Beach Road, next to the Seawoods NRI complex, and is protected under the Centre’s Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules. Construction work on the site commenced in October 2021

Mumbai: City-based environment non-profit Vanashakti has moved the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to halt the ongoing construction of a residential-cum-commercial complex on Karawe Lake, in pockets D & E of Nerul, Navi Mumbai.

Green NGO moves SC to halt construction on Navi Mumbai wetland

The site is located on the upmarket Palm Beach Road, next to the Seawoods NRI complex, and is protected under the Centre’s Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules. Construction work on the site commenced in October 2021, following which residents have also been complaining about incessant air and noise pollution.

Available documents show that the project obtained environment clearance (EC) in December 2019, with the state environment impact assessment authority (SEIAA) accepting the builder’s submission that the project “is beyond CRZ area”. However, a perusal of the Coastal Zone Management Plan for the Thane district reveals that the plot (CTS No. 265 in revenue records) does fall under the purview of the CRZ, falling under the CRZ-II category. This refers to areas which have already been developed up to the shoreline of the coast, and where building restrictions have been lifted under the provisions of CRZ Notification, 2019.

Citing “rampant ecological damage” being caused by the project, Vanashakti’s intervention application in the apex court states that “the construction is being undertaken without any clearances and approvals from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority and is therefore entirely unauthorised and illegal”.

The application also states, “It is pertinent to note that Karawe Lake, which is on the landward side of Palm Beach Road and the landward side of pockets D and E, fills up with tidal water… The fact that tidal water is reaching water bodies on the landward side of the concerned pockets would imply that all land on the seaward side of Karawe Lake would be covered under the CRZ, 2011.”

Moreover, Vanashakti’s application also challenges the validity of the commencement certificate granted to the developer by CIDCO, dated February 2021. “(CIDCO) has both, allotted the aforesaid land parcels in Nerul as well as granted commencement certificates in respect of the same, whilst stating that no CRZ clearance is required... It is unscrupulous that a company such as CIDCO, which was entrusted with the allotment of lands in 1971 and required government approval for such allotment, should now subvert the provisions of the CRZ, 2011 and the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966, and act as authority to grant development permissions/certificates/ environmental clearances to the project proponent,” it states.

“While construction work can be permitted in CRZ-II areas, the building plans require thorough scrutiny from the Maharashtra State Coastal Zone Management Authority. In this case, the MCZMA was never approached for permission, and construction has now commenced. Pockets D and E are contiguous with the NRI and Talawe wetlands, which are an important flamingo habitat,” said environmentalist Sunil Agarwal, who lives adjacent to the construction site and has been engaged in a legal battle since 2013.

In a letter to the MCZMA on March 27 this year, Agarwal wrote, “The construction is happening in CRZ II area without prior approval of MCZMA... The approved CZMP map prepared as per Coastal Zone Regulation Rules (2011) makes it very clear that 35.55 hectares of the area allotted to (the developer) by CIDCO for an integrated project of Golf Course and Country Club project is mostly (33 hectares) in the intertidal zone (CRZ I-B) and balance is CRZ II (2.5 hectares).” Officials in the MCZMA did not respond to requests for comment.

Pockets D and E make up this 2.5 hectare land parcel and are part of a larger area (including Pockets A, B and C) which had been reserved by the City Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) for the development of 34-hectare golf course over the TS Chanakya and the NRI wetland complex, which has now been scrapped to prevent the threat of “bird hit calamities” and related accidents at the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA).

“Pocket ­A...and Pocket ­D are wetlands under both 2010 and 2017 Wetland Rules,” the HC observed in November 2018, in response to a PIL filed by Agarwal. In an affidavit submitted to the HC, the state forest department maintained that Pocket D, “...is low lying and contains tidal water. Sparse mangroves are seen on the fringes. A number of birds, including flamingos, visit the area. It is a water body as per the map and as per field observation.”

An official with the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), seeking anonymity, confirmed that the project site does come under CRZ-II category. “The area is surrounded by several dozen buildings which have not yet got their Occupation Certificate because they were constructed without prior approval of MCZMA. The NMMC has at times sought post facto clearance for these buildings from the MCZMA and has also requested CIDCO to comply with CRZ rules when allotting plots to developers,” the official said. The NMMC had sought post-facto clearance for at least 132 such buildings, as early as 2016.

Despite attempts, SB Kulkarni, project authority at Mistry Constructions was unavailable for comment.