NGT quashes petition challenging green clearance for Bandra-Versova Sea Link

With this, the only legal challenge to the project’s EC (a crucial regulatory clearance) has been disposed of, over five years after it was first mounted by the petitioners.

Mumbai The National Green Tribunal (NGT) this week quashed a petition by the Juhu Moragaon Machhimar Vividh Karyakari Sahkari Sanstha (JMMVKSS) -- a fish workers society in Juhu -- challenging the environmental clearance (EC) granted for the upcoming Bandra-Versova Sea Link. A copy of the NGT’s August 22 judgement was accessed by Hindustan Times on Thursday.

JMMVKSS first approached the NGT in April 2017 with these grievances. However, the NGT has not found any merit in them (Hindustan Times)

With this, the only legal challenge to the project’s EC (a crucial regulatory clearance) has been disposed of, over five years after it was first mounted by the petitioners. Their main contention was that no public hearing has been conducted for the project, under the Centre’s Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) assessment. This, they maintain, sets a precedent to revoke the EC and halt the project’s further implementation.

JMMVKSS first approached the NGT in April 2017 with these grievances. However, the NGT has not found any merit in them. “No case is made out to interfere with the impugned EC...any issue arising out of breach of such conditions can be raised only before the High Court,” the NGT observed this week, upholding the project’s green clearance.

The EC was issued in favour of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) in February 2017, by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).

The petitioner has also pointed out other issues in the manner in which the project was scrutinised. “EIA acknowledges likely degradation of the marine environment and further pollution load on water but the said issues have not been addressed. The alignment in the project crosses the navigational channel of fisherfolk at four locations – Bandra, Chimbai Road, Khar Danda and Juhu Koliwada. The project will have an irreversible impact on the livelihood of the fishermen community for which adequate mitigation measures have not been taken... increased turbidity and disturbance to the seabed during construction have not been addressed,” they contended.

A spokesperson for JMMVKSS expressed dismay at the NGT’s reasoning. “Five years on, the NGT has still not understood our fundamental grievance. We challenged the EC primarily because there was no public hearing conducted as per the EIA Notification. Instead of recognising this, the court has simply accepted the MSRDC’s version that the project is of extreme importance to the city, and said that the EC remains valid. It leaves no room to challenge a clearance which has been obtained without following due procedure,” they said.

The judgement also has attracted criticism from other experts, who said that the matter should have been considered by the NGT’s Western Bench, and not before a special bench in Delhi. “It is surprising that the Chairman NGT is still continuing to hear cases that he has transferred to himself from the Western Zone Bench despite the fact that this questionable practice has been challenged in the Bombay High Court,” said Debi Goenka, executive trustee of the city-based environment group Conservation Action Trust.

“Secondly, the NGT has not even bothered to examine the contradictory conditions regarding the mangroves. The MSRDC maintains that there will be no adverse impact as the road is being built on stilts, but simultaneously says that 1,585 mangrove trees needed to be felled. The availability of land for mangrove plantation is also a vexed issue since there are few locations where this can be carried out,” Goenka added.

Other impacts which were not adequately addressed in the EIA study, according to JMMVKSS’ petition, including the impact on air quality and noise levels, increased risk of climate impacts like sea level rise, erosion of the coastline, and destruction of mangroves due to the project.

“The project proponent should be instructed to address these gaps. The NGT’s decision to send the petitioners to the High Court instead, without dealing with the main issue on merits, seems perverse and unjustified. It leaves no room for public input and participation,” Goenka added.

Radhesyam Mopalwar, Managing Director, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, did not respond to requests for comment.