Coal mountains in the heart of Mumbai? It sounds completely unbelievable and yet it is true. Almost 2 million tonnes of coal was unloaded and stockpiled, during the past year, in Haji Bunder, only 7.5 kms from Mantralaya. The coal dust from these mountains is literally choking our city and each of us.

The bizarre thing is that none of this coal is meant for Mumbai. It is imported from countries like Indonesia and Australia and transported to Mahagenco's plant in Bhusaval 455 kms from Mumbai. Since the Mumbai Port is not equipped with proper coal handling facilities, the coal is unloaded and transported in the most primitive and environmentally destructive manner.

The coal spills from the barges into the water as it is being unloaded, destroying mangroves and marine life along the eastern seaboard of Mumbai. It’s then shoveled onto trucks, resulting in more spillage and a layer of sludge several feet deep. Thereafter, it is transported by open trucks to the stockyards where it is dumped, forming towering coal mountains. In due course, the coal is transported by open train wagons and trucks to Bhusaval, spilling coal along the way and polluting the entire route.

When I first saw these coal mountains I was thunderstruck. It seemed beyond belief that this should be happening right in the centre of the commercial capital of the country and that no one was protesting.

What we found as we filed RTIs and ultimately filed a Public Interest Litigation in September 2014 was that many people were. The Koli Samaj and other residents of the area had been protesting for years, giving proof of recurrent bouts of ill health and deaths due to respiratory disease and accidents on the sludge-filled roads. But six years of complaints—to the Police, local corporators, MLAs and MP—had fallen on deaf ears.

For most Mumbaikars our port lands are a dark zone— hardly anyone has ever visited the area eventhough it is very close to CST station. It’s actually very easy to get there. Just take the Mumbai local’s Harbour line train to Reay Road station. Outside the station hail, a yellow and black taxi and ask to go to MERI, the Marine Engineering & Research Institute. The short 10 minute taxi ride will take you past Mumbai’s coal mountains and the area they have despoiled.

The visit is instructive in more ways than one. You experience what it is like to visit an open cast coal mine. Your feet will be covered in thick black sludge and you soon get a terrible headache from the coal dust you breathe in. Inhaling coal dust causes black lung disease, an illness only miners usually get but which is afflicting many in our city. Because we can neither absorb nor exhale this dust it causes irreversible lung damage, leading to potentially fatal respiratory diseases like emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, tuberculosis and lung cancer.

For those of us who don't have the stomach to visit the area ourselves, take a virtual visit. Go to Google Earth and use the time slider to look at Haji Bunder as it has evolved from 2006 to 2015. You will see the entire area and the sea near it turn from green to black.

You may wish to turn your back on Haji Bunder, if you feel that only areas like Sewri and Wadala are affected. Unfortunately Mumbai’s sea breeze knows no boundaries and carries the dust across our island city into every home.

A survey conducted by the International Institute of Respiratory Studies (IIPS) had a shocking statistic— 89.6 % of people living in the slums of Mumbai Metropolitan Region die of respiratory diseases. There are no surveys for housing societies, but we all breathe the same air and no matter where we live or how much we earn, we are all equally at risk.

As we started protesting against coal handling at Haji Bunder, despite its devastating effect on people’s health and Mumbai’s environment, the authorities responded saying it was economically necessary. Coal was needed for Mahagenco and for power in Maharashtra.

The question however is why the coal is not being imported through Surat, which has modern coal handling facilities and is about 100 kms closer to Bhusaval than Mumbai? It is clearly the most efficient, cleanest and closest port through which coal should be imported for Mahagenco. If for any reason Surat is not acceptable (though it would be hard to fathom why) Dharamtar in Raigad district also has spare capacity to handle coal and is the same distance from Bhusaval as Mumbai is.

It is hard to understand why Mahagenco is being allowed to

pollute Mumbai and destroy our health

squander precious foreign exchange through the spillage wastage and pilferage of imported coal at Haji Bunder, and

load the poor consumer with extra electricity costs as a result of an additional 100 kms of transportation.

As there was no rational explanation for this, and as the authorities refused to act in the interests of either Mumbai or Maharashtra, Vice Admiral IC Rao and I filed a Public Interest Litigation in the High Court in September 2014.

In response to this petition, after a year of persistent follow up, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) finally acknowledged the failures to protect the environment and renewed the permission for coal handling at Haji Bunder only until October 31, 2015. On the basis of this, the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) issued a public notice on September 4, 2015 to stop coal handling from September 24, 2015.

However, our happiness at having finally persuaded these authorities to act in the interest of Mumbai was short-lived. Last Friday we learnt that this decision is being overturned and that coal handling is likely to be resumed at Haji Bunder with immediate effect until 2017.

We must unite to oppose this now.

There is no benefit to Mumbai, Mumbaikars or Mahagenco from this decision, but the damage is terrible. The suffering of those afflicted with lung diseases is enormous. The loss of productivity suffered by Mumbaikars and the health costs we incur due to respiratory problems are estimated to run into several thousand crores. The pollution and degradation of Mumbai—our water, land and air—is devastating, and has unacceptable long term consequences. The loss of livelihood to the Koli fisherfolk as a result of this pollution has not even been measured.

We have a very small window of opportunity before MPCB and MBPT are pressurised to change their decision.

Please sign the petition “Save our lungs from Coal Dust” on Change.org asking Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Minister of Environment Ramdas Kadam to stop coal handling at Haji Bunder. Mahagenco must be instructed to import its coal through Surat which will be cleaner and more efficient.

There can be no better opportunity to make Swachh Bharat and Swachh Mumbai a reality than by clearing the killing coal mountains of Mumbai. Please do your part by signing the petition so that the CM can hear the voice of Mumbai, loud and clear.