‘Work on Coastal Road project continues despite HC’s restraining order’

Following petitions filed by activists, led by Wagh, and NGO Society for Improvement of Greenery and Nature, HC on Thursday restricted further land reclamation between Worli seaface and the Worli end of the sea-link.

Despite the Bombay high court (HC) order last week restraining the civic body from reclaiming any more land for the Coastal Road project, petitioners have said that work in the area has increased. On Monday, the petitioners submitted an affidavit before HC, asking for immediate stay on the work.

Workers doing soil testing for coastal road project at Marine Drive in Mumbai, India, on Friday, April 5, 2019. (Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)

Meanwhile, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has dismissed petitioners’ claims as “mere allegations.”

“After the HC order, residents complained that instead of stopping work, the work has increased. So we conducted a site visit and saw that despite BMC’s assurance to HC that no reclamation will be done, they were continuing the work,” said Shweta Wagh, one of the petitioners. “During the site visit, we realised that the contractor had not been informed about the HC directive.”

“There was no violation of the court order. They [petitioners] had demanded an urgent hearing today [Monday], but the chief justice said there was no urgency in the matter and scheduled the hearing for Tuesday,” said a BMC official.

Following petitions filed by activists, led by Wagh, and NGO Society for Improvement of Greenery and Nature, HC on Thursday restricted further land reclamation between Worli seaface and the Worli end of the sea-link.

City activists have claimed that the reclamation work poses a threat to the coastal ecology and the fishing community in the area. The plea by Society for Improvement of Greenery and Nature has pointed out that the project will lead to loss of 200 trees at Tata Garden in Bhulabhai Desai Road. Another plea by Conservation Action Trust (CAT) earlier this month highlighted the lack of public consultation before the project was cleared.