Maharashtra sends JNPT-Balavali multi-modal corridor project for CRZ clearance

The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) has recommended Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation’s (MSRDC) proposal for a 18-km multimodal corridor, from Chirner village in Uran to Balavali on National Highway (NH)-17, for coastal regulatory zone (CRZ) clearance to the Union environment ministry

The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) has recommended Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation’s (MSRDC) proposal for a 18-km multimodal corridor, from Chirner village in Uran to Balavali on National Highway (NH)-17, for coastal regulatory zone (CRZ) clearance to the Union environment ministry. This is as per the minutes of the regulatory authority’s 155th meeting held on June 10 which also reflected that the project will involve uprooting 681 mangrove trees.

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A multimodal corridor is a single corridor designed to facilitate easy movement of multiple modes of transport, from private cars to public mass transit systems and even non-motorised transport, along with the flow of utilities such as gas, power and sewage. The proposal by MCZMA is planned as a connection between Mumbai trans harbour link (MTHL), Mumbai-Pune Expressway, NH-66 connecting Panvel to Kanyakumari and NH4B connecting Mumbai to Goa.

The entire project will span across 220.39 hectares including forests, mangroves and agricultural land, and will pass 2.3 km east of Karnala Bird Sanctuary. As per an earlier alignment, the work would have required felling of 19.95 hectares of mangroves close to Patalganga river and Karanja creek in Raigad. While the alignment has been redrawn at MCZMA’s instruction, still at least 16 hectares of mangroves in Pen, Uran and Panvel talukas of Raigad will be affected by the project, with the majority of trees (241) falling in Uran’s Vindhane. The corridor will also pass through two CRZ-governed water bodies at Uran and Panvel.

MCZMA has recommended the corridor for clearance to the Union environment ministry, whose expert appraisal committee is yet to give nod the project. While the project has been exempted from obtaining environment clearance (EC), MCZMA has imposed conditions on its assent which include compensatory afforestation in consultation with the mangrove cell and seeking for forest clearance under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. MSRDC will also have to seek the Bombay high court’s (HC) permission in the matter.

On September 17, 2018, the HC had said, “No development permission whatsoever shall be issued by any authority in Maharashtra in respect of any area under mangroves. Regardless of ownership of the land having mangroves and the area of the land, all constructions taking place within 50 metres on all sides of mangroves shall be forthwith stopped.”

Neenu Somraj, deputy conservator of forests (mangrove cell), who led a site inspection to determine the project’s impact on mangroves, could not be reached for comment on Saturday despite attempts.