HC nod to build tunnel passing through Vasai mangroves, with riders

While setting aside the stringent conditions set by a previous bench on cutting of mangroves in 2016, the HC held that if the pipeline is not constructed, several areas will face drinking water problems.

The Bombay high court (HC) recently allowed the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to carry out tunnelling work below patches of mangrove land in Kaman and Vasai creeks and construct two structures within the 50m buffer zones for a 90-km pipeline that will supply drinking water to Vasai and Virar. The court, however, directed the MMRDA to not begin construction till the Centre and the Ministry of Environment and Forests certify that mangroves will not be adversely affected by the work.

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While setting aside the stringent conditions set by a previous bench on cutting of mangroves in 2016, the HC held that if the pipeline is not constructed, several areas will face drinking water problems. The division bench of justices Akil Kureshi and SJ Kathawalla — while hearing the petition filed by MMRDA, seeking permission for the work — was told that the development authority had envisaged Surya Regional Water Supply Scheme to provide drinking water to western suburban areas under Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation, Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation and 27 villages outside Vasai. Advocate Jacob Kadantot told the HC the pipeline would originate from Surya dam, pass through Kaman and Vasai creeks, and reach the areas. Kadontot said the pipeline would be laid 31m below the mangrove patch in both creeks, but as the entry and exit points would be lie in the buffer zone, it needed the HC’s permission. He also said the Indian government had given the project a go-ahead in 2015 under the condition that the MMRDA gets the HC’s permission.

The bench observed that: “It is an ambitious project for providing drinking water to areas in the outskirts of Mumbai. In the long term, if such pipelines are not constructed, several areas may have drinking water shortage.”