Mumbai will drown if development is allowed on salt pans

The state’s move has come at a time when it also declared plans to set up an expert committee to identify the reason behind floods in the state.

Environmentalists have slammed the Maharashtra government’s efforts towards opening the state’s salt pans for development.

Debi Goenka from Conservation Action Trust, another NGO working for environmental causes, said the move will be disastrous for the city. (HT image)

They have warned that this could destroy Mumbai’s natural buffers against floods, making the suburbs most susceptible.

The state will soon be able to make its own laws for the use and development of these areas, after it gave its consent to the Centre to put salt pans in the concurrent list in Schedule VII of the Constitution. Currently, all issues related to salt pans come under the Union commerce and industry ministry.

The state’s move has come at a time when it also declared plans to set up an expert committee to identify the reason behind floods in the state.

D Stalin, director, Vanashakti, a Mumbai based NGO working for environmental rights opined that the state government has not learned its lesson from the past, wherein the greed of builders had made Maharashtra more prone to floods.

Debi Goenka from Conservation Action Trust, another NGO working for environmental causes, said the move will be disastrous for the city. “Currently, salt pan lands are protected under coastal regulation zone [CRZ] rules. The wetlands play an important role in securing the city from floods. If the government opens them for development, it will prove disastrous for the city as sea levels are already rising because of climate change and the last thing one wants is to destroy the city’s natural defence,” Goenka said.

Maharashtra has nearly 13,000 acres of salt pan land, with 5,300 acres in Mumbai, followed by around 2,000 acres in Vasai and 2,000 acres in Palghar.

Of the 5,300 acres in Mumbai, the city’s Development Plan (DP) 2034 allows for 1,781 acres to be developed. However, it is not yet clear if the state will open up the entire 1,781 acres for construction, as a part of it may come under environment regulations.

The opening up of salt pan land has been a matter of debate for decades, as proponents say it will provide respite to the affordable realty sector. Environment activists, however, have been opposing any such move.

According to the draft regional plan of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for 2016-36, salt pans are crucial to Mumbai’s ecology as they safeguard the city against floods.

“Salt pans are critically important from the point of view of flood protection as they are shallow depressed areas holding seawater. Salt pans today face a serious threat from the construction lobby,” states the report.

Only last week, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had declared the formation of an expert committee to study the reasons behind the recent floods and to suggest measures to avoid similar situations in the future.