<p>Navi Mumbai: Vast stretches of mangroves and intertidal wetlands are being buried in the construction of coastal road Kharghar-Nerul coastal road in Navi Mumbai by CIDCO, according to various environmental groups working in this satellite township. </p><p>The construction of Coastal Road at Sector-25, Kharghar by City Industrial and Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (CIDCO), a state government undertaking, is in total violation of the Environmental Clearance (EC) granted by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC), NatConnect Foundation and Kharghar Wetlands and Hills Forum said in a statement. </p> .<p>The MOEFCC has given a conditional EC that the road should be built on stilts, avoiding damage to mangroves, NatConnect Director B N Kumar recalled. The ministry had originally kept the EC in abeyance asking CIDCO to submit alternative alignment plans.</p><p>“We were highly concerned about the project that could cause irreparable environmental damage and hence opposed the EC,” Kumar said. “But we were hopeful that CIDCO would abide by the EC conditions,” he said.</p><p>Naresh Chandra Singh, Convenor of Kharghar Wetlands and Hills group, did videography of the construction as proof of the violation. “There is no sign of any stilt construction,” Singh said and pointed out that the landfill and debris dumping is mercilessly killing mangroves.</p> .<p>This is also a gross violation of the Bombay High Court order of September 2018 which banned killing of mangroves, Singh said. CIDCO has the least concern for the environment.</p><p>The High Court has also mandated that all mangroves must be handed over to the Forest Department, but CIDCO is yet to comply with this verdict, activist Jyoti Nadkarni said. “CIDCO is dishing out a double whammy to the citizens by not handing over the mangroves and by destroying them,” she said.</p><p>The activists have called for an immediate halt to the project and an independent inspection of the violations.</p><p>CIDCO must be made to quickly undo the damage by removing the landfill and allowing free flow of intertidal water so that the mangroves will resurrect on their own, Kumar said.</p>
<p>Navi Mumbai: Vast stretches of mangroves and intertidal wetlands are being buried in the construction of coastal road Kharghar-Nerul coastal road in Navi Mumbai by CIDCO, according to various environmental groups working in this satellite township. </p><p>The construction of Coastal Road at Sector-25, Kharghar by City Industrial and Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (CIDCO), a state government undertaking, is in total violation of the Environmental Clearance (EC) granted by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC), NatConnect Foundation and Kharghar Wetlands and Hills Forum said in a statement. </p> .<p>The MOEFCC has given a conditional EC that the road should be built on stilts, avoiding damage to mangroves, NatConnect Director B N Kumar recalled. The ministry had originally kept the EC in abeyance asking CIDCO to submit alternative alignment plans.</p><p>“We were highly concerned about the project that could cause irreparable environmental damage and hence opposed the EC,” Kumar said. “But we were hopeful that CIDCO would abide by the EC conditions,” he said.</p><p>Naresh Chandra Singh, Convenor of Kharghar Wetlands and Hills group, did videography of the construction as proof of the violation. “There is no sign of any stilt construction,” Singh said and pointed out that the landfill and debris dumping is mercilessly killing mangroves.</p> .<p>This is also a gross violation of the Bombay High Court order of September 2018 which banned killing of mangroves, Singh said. CIDCO has the least concern for the environment.</p><p>The High Court has also mandated that all mangroves must be handed over to the Forest Department, but CIDCO is yet to comply with this verdict, activist Jyoti Nadkarni said. “CIDCO is dishing out a double whammy to the citizens by not handing over the mangroves and by destroying them,” she said.</p><p>The activists have called for an immediate halt to the project and an independent inspection of the violations.</p><p>CIDCO must be made to quickly undo the damage by removing the landfill and allowing free flow of intertidal water so that the mangroves will resurrect on their own, Kumar said.</p>