The BMC will need to find 445 acres, or 180 hectares, of land to carry out compensatory plantation of mangrove... Read More

MUMBAI: The BMC will need to find 445 acres, or 180 hectares, of land to carry out compensatory plantation of mangroves if it wants to set up the Malad sewage treatment plant .

The Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change ( MoEFCC ) has rejected the BMC’s plea to reduce the area for compensatory plantation in lieu of the 90 acres, or 36 hectares, that will be destroyed for setting up the sewage treatment plant. In its decision, the ministry’s expert appraisal committee said it deliberated on the matter at length and “the specific condition has been prescribed, considering the development/regeneration based on the number of mangroves cut would be a misadventure as the mangroves are one of its best stock in the Mumbai region. Regenerating mangroves of this size from seeds or saplings will take several years or decades”. The panel further observed that project proponents in most cases do not mark each tree to be cut and the numbers were highly arbitrary. It said there was “room for understating the number of trees actually affected”.

The ministry panel said there could be no compromise in so far as mangroves’ replantation/regeneration was concerned since they were the lungs of Mumbai.

Municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta said the MoEFCC committee could not rewrite the law. “The coastal regulation zone notification stipulates replantation of three times the number of mangrove trees proposed to be cut or destroyed during the construction process. We are ready to do what the law stipulates. This is, after all, public money and, most important, where is the land for replantation?” he said. Mehta said the BMC would reapproach the MoEFCC and ask it to review its decision.

A senior civic official said the committee members must realize that daily sewage of 30 lakh people residing in the Malad area flows untreated into the sea. “Isn’t this anti-environment? If you love the environment, we love it too,” said the official.

