A human chain has become the means of protest for residents to oppose the development project of City Industrial and Development Corporation (CIDCO) of constructing a coastal road connecting Kharghar and Nerul. A large number of residents and activists formed a human chain at Belapur on Sunday morning to protest against the project proposed to pass through the green belt along the Panvel creek.
The environment activists are of opinion that the project would bring large scale destruction of numerous green zones developed by individuals. NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar has written to the Chief Minister questioning the need for this ‘white elephant’ called coastal road from Kharghar which already has wide roads. Moreover, Kharghar and Belapur are well connected by service road, suburban train and metro services and there is hardly any traffic to Nerul Jetty which is anyway defunct, Kumar said.
The promenade at Sector-15, CBD Belapur in between the mangroves and the residential buildings, that will be destroyed by the coastal road. | NatConnect
Holding banners and placards, the protestors sought to send a message to CIDCO and the government that the vast stretch of green zone created with painstaking and voluntary efforts by the residents themselves should not be destroyed.
"There are many other ways to improve the connectivity such as linking the road between the upcoming airport and the creek with Kharghar road by an underpass or flyover at the Sion-Panvel highway, NatConnect said. Activist Shubhangi Tirodkar who has been staying at Sector 15 for about a decade said it is disheartening to know that our green belt will be turned into a busy concrete road in an otherwise very peaceful area.
BJP leader and former standing committee chairperson Netra Shirke, who supported the human chain, said Belapur’s sector-15 green belt was created as part of the ‘one time development’ envisaged by MLA Ganesh Naik. It is horrendous to see biodiversity being destroyed by a project that is not required at all, Shirke said.
