Bullet train: JICA monitoring environmental concerns

The Japan International Cooperation Agency, that is supporting the ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, has asserted that it was monitoring environmental concerns raised by various groups that nearly 54,000 mangrove are likely to be cut for the project.

Green groups like The Nature Connect, its parent NGO Samachar Foundation and Shree Ekvira Aai Pratishtan (SEAP), have written to JICA and the Japanese government stating that the mangroves that will be hacked is not a small number. “They are equivalent to two Olympic size grounds,” they said.

“We have received an acknowledgment from the government web site saying that the complaint has been referred to the Japanese PM,” said B N Kumar, Director, The Nature Connect, in a press statement.

Acknowledging the mail from the green groups, JICA said: "We have noted your concerns and requests....After the start of the construction, NHSRCL will submit the result of environmental monitoring to JICA, quarterly. JICA will monitor the result including the transplantation and plantation of mangroves. If JICA judges that there is a need for improvement in a situation, we may ask NHSRCL to take appropriate actions as per JICA Guidelines for Environmental and Social Considerations."

"It is just not the question of killing plants as mangroves are not any plants. They act as a buffer between the sea and the coast. They also serve as breeding ground for fish. Thus, they act as the basic source of survival for hundreds and thousands of fishing community. Maintaining mangroves around the coast is a thousand times cheaper than building a protective wall/bund, he pointed out," Nandkumar Pawar, Head, SEAP, said.

The Nature Connect and SEAP have already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi drawing his attention to this ‘catastrophic situation and the PM referred the plea to the Environment Ministry. The green groups have also written to the Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis apart from sending out complaints to MCZMA and the Bombay High Court appointed Mangrove Monitoring and Protection Committee on this issue.

"The project proponents might make hollow promises that they will plant five times the hacked mangroves. Our question is why kill the existing, well-grown plants at all and then go for compensatory plantation? Can our engineers not find an alternative route? Another pertinent point is that the history of replantation has been very discouraging in our region," Pawar said.