Nagpur: Fasten your seatbelts and gear up for a smooth ride, for now you can reach Goregaon from Mulund in 20 minutes as opposed to the usual hour-long ride.
The Regional Empowered Committee (REC), attached to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has given an ‘in principle’’ approval with certain riders for the diversion of 19.43 ha of Reserved Forest Land in favour of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for Construction of 3 + 3 lane tunnels underneath Sanjay Gandhi National Park along 12 km Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR). REC has sought additional information from the state government for giving final approval.
The Rs 6,225 crore GMLR project has already received approval from the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) and the Maharashtra State Board of Wildlife and Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ).
The Free Press Journal reported earlier that as REC on September 29 had reserved the approval seeking more information with regard to measures proposed for environment conservation from the BMC.
The minutes of the meeting were uploaded on REC’s website on Thursday. BMC has proposed to start the construction from February 2023 and the road will open for traffic only by December 2026.
REC has recommended a cumulative/holistic study on the effect of construction of one or more underground tunnels on the ecological, geological, hydrological and seismological aspects of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park from a reputed institution, keeping in view the ongoing activities of the Park.
The Chief Wildlife Warden may grant permission for the purpose of mapping the groundwater network, watershed network or any other study inside the SGNP as per the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act,1972. The study should also conclude the carrying capacity of the SGNP vis-a-vis underground tunnels after all aspects have been studied.
According to REC, BMC had submitted a study done by IIT, Mumbai on the effect of tunnels on the groundwater. However, it observed that it was based on the secondary data provided by the BMC and it was specifically carried out for the proposed tunnel and does not include other existing and proposed activities in the SGNP.
The State Government after consulting all stakeholders/User Agencies shall inform the number of upcoming proposals where underground tunnels below the SGNP are proposed.
‘’An undertaking from BMC to the effect that 'no more tunnels other than the proposed tunnels shall be constructed by the User Agency in future' if the study asked vide point 'a' above is conclusive of the requirement of only one tunnel by the User Agency i.e. the BMC, keeping in view the traffic situation for next 50-100 years,’’ said REC.
‘’Since the User Agency, BMC has not been able to manage the increasing population inside the city, the pristine area of the SGNP is falling prey to the menace of encroachment. It is realized that the officials of SGNP cannot evict these encroachers in totality without active involvement of the BMC. Therefore, the User Agency shall provide an undertaking to actively collaborate with the officials of the SGNP and participate in evicting all encroachments from the SGNP, and if need be, rehabilitate them elsewhere within one year positively,’’ said REC in its minutes.
