Shri Sharad Pawar, President, Nationalist Congress Party
Smt Sonia Gandhi, President, Congress (I)
Namaskar!
As an alliance planning to form the Maharashtra State Government we appreciate your efforts to focus on the farmers’ problems which remained unresolved for many years.
And we were quite happy to learn from media reports that your Common Minimum Programme (CMP) envisages to save the money to be spent on the environment unfriendly Bullet Train project and use the funds for farmers’ welfare.
It is a laudable step since the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet Train project is slated to destroy 54,000 mangroves and unsettle the entire ecology as has been confirmed in the official impact assessment reports.
May we remind you of the pre-poll promise made by the Shiv Sena that the Aarey area will be declared as a forest? The merciless destruction of 2,700 trees for metro car shed at Aarey is too well known to be described here. It is time you took some corrective steps once your government assumes office.
Your alliance must give top priority to environment protection and ensure that no infrastructure development should cause any destruction of environment. We are not opposed to infrastructure needed for social and economic progress, but it should not come at the cost of nature.
We have been experiencing frequent floods in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), yet we do not seem to have learnt any lessons.
While trying to solve the farmers’ issues, we appeal to you to look at the unresolved problems faced by the fishermen, particularly in Uran area, and the wanton destruction of environment in the name of infrastructure projects. As much as 8,000 hectares of 32,000 hectares of wetlands and mangroves in the eco-sensitive Uran region have been destroyed. The process of destruction is going on unabated despite the Bombay High Court rulings and the court appointed mangrove committee’s instructions.
To cite some of the recent instances:
A 500 acre wetland at Dastan Phata has been turned into a dust bowl.
Thousands of mangroves are being destroyed in the name of JNPT SEZ, NMSEZ and expansion of highways.
Wetlands are being buried at Bori Pakhadi, Belpada, Pagote and other places.
The landfill and blockage of free flow of creek water has led to the water finding its own course and flooding several villages during Holi festival.
In the name of landfill for Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), hundreds of hectares of mangroves are being wiped out. This has in fact led to floods at CBD Belapur during February when there was no semblance of rain.
All these have not only caused irreparable damage to the environment but badly impacted the lives of fishing community whose lone source of survival has been snatched away from them. They are not allowed to fish anywhere in the vicinity of the infrastructure projects.
On top of it, JNPT now started reclaiming 110 hectares for its Container Terminal-4 and jetty which is being vehemently opposed by the fishing community.
All project proponents, without exception, have violated the preconditions by environment and other authorities which clearly stipulated that the projects should not cause any harm to the environment and not interfere with fishing community’s movements.
JNPT has now put up notices asking the people to remove their fishing boats around Mora or face consequences as the port authorities want fill the sea.
The mangroves are growing on their own without any human efforts, yet, instead of allowing them to flourish the infrastructure project proponents, including the government agencies, are killing them with short-sighted approach.
We would like to draw your attention to the recent US research study which cautioned that the rising sea levels will drown Mumbai and other coastal cities. At a time when we need more and more mangroves and new varieties of them to protect the coast, we are hell bent on destroying the existing ones. This is nothing short of a recipe for disaster.
Floods at BKC, Badlapur, Kalyan-Sheel and Uran are too fresh in our minds to be forgotten.
The previous government has chalked out plans to reclaim salt pan areas for affordable housing and expand MMR to develop urban infrastructure. Again here, environment will be the biggest sufferer and the projects will not survive the nature’s fury.
In view of all these facts, we sincerely appeal to you to accord top priority to environment protection.
We also request you pursue our suggestion to set up an independent Green Police to tackle environment violations as the existing police force is ill-equipped and inadequate to take care of such cases. Our suggestion for Green Police made to the then Chief Minister is pending with the Home department.
Looking forward to positive and pro-environment governance.
Yours sincerely
B N Kumar – Director, NatConnect
Nandakumar Pawar – Shree Ekvira Aai Pratishtan
Tukaram Koli, Dilip Koli – Paaramparik Machcimar Bachao Kruti Samiti
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