Navi Mumbai: The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has not entered into any agreement with the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) for the 12 Ha casting yard at Ulwe in Navi Mumbai for the Atal Setu, reply to an RTI application revealed.
This is shocking since MMRDA had occupied the plot for nearly six years for the work on the Rs 17,840 Crore bridge, Director of NatConnect Foundation, B N Kumar, who had filed the application, said. CIDCO officials did not respond to queries from this correspondent.
Kumar sought the information on the land lease agreement details in connection with his ongoing case at the National Green Tribunal (NGT) against alleged environmental violations in the allotment of a 10-acre plot from the casting yard for Tirupati Balaji temple on Ulwe coast. MMRDA informed NatConnect that no agreement was signed and hence no information could be provided.
“This means the legality of the casting yard is in doubt and the RTI response also raises questions on other environmental aspects since the casting yard work could have polluted the sea,” Kumar said and pointed out that the casting involved concrete mixing, steel cutting and storage which all could lead to water and air pollution.
NatConnect, through a fresh RTI application has now sought details of the environmental clearances and impact study. The application was filed with the environment department which had referred the issue to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), Kumar said. Citing google earth maps of pre-casting yard days, NatConnect claimed that the Atal Setu facility had come up on fishing zones and mudflats, apart from mangroves.
Going by even the CRZ nod given for the Balaji temple plot, the piece of land falls in restricted mangrove buffer zone, the NGO argued at the NGT. The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA), while giving CRZ nod for the temple, has not considered the fact that the 10-acre plot is part of the casting yard as this aspect does figure in the minutes.
“This also means that the MCZMA has not taken a comprehensive view of the environmental aspects of the temple project,” NatConnect said. Moreover, the MCZMA does not have any information whether the casting yard was built on CRZ area, the authority informed in response to another RTI application. CIDCO officials could not be contacted for their reaction.
