TTD’s Balaji temple coming up on wetland in Mumbai!

Mumbai In a vindication of environmentalists’ claim that the land allotment for Rs 70-crore Tirupati Balaji temple at Ulwe in Navi Mumbai is a violation of CRZ1 norms, an inspection by the mangrove cell has shown that the structure is indeed coming up on a plot created on a wetland.

The environmentalists, therefore, demanded that the CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zone) permission given for the temple must be cancelled and the project should be given an alternative plot.

The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) had originally allowed a casting yard for the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) bridge in the wetland and mangrove zone. Part of the landfilled area was allotted to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) instead of restoring the inter-tidal wetland, NatConnect Foundation said in its complaints to the Centre and the State governments.

The government ordered a site inspection following which a team from Mangrove Conservation Cell - Navi Mumbai, accompanied by NatConnect Foundation Director BN Kumar, visited the temple plot area on Tuesday.

The inspection team compared the spot with satellite maps prepared by the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application centres (MRSAC), Forester Bapu Gadade said in his report. He confirmed that the temple plot was earlier a wetland on which landfill was done.

The team also found mangroves within 40 to 45 metres of the plot. Since the mangrove and wetland area is still under CIDCO control, it is for the planning agency to act, the inspection report said.

Talking to Bizz Buzz, Kumar said, “This yet another case of clear-cut violation of the Bombay High Court order to transfer all mangroves to the forest department for conservation. CIDCO continues to sit on hundreds of acres of mangroves, quoting the HC appointed Mangrove Committee.”

CIDCO has allotted 10 acres for the temple which the environmentalists argued is a CRZ1 area.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Control (MOEFCC) has in fact asked the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) to examine the NatConnect complaint and report which is still awaited, Kumar said.

MCZMA, on the contrary, has given the CRZ nod for the project in a hurriedly convened meeting on May 23, with a single-point agenda. The minutes of the MCZMA meeting are yet to be uploaded on the authority’s site even after two-and-a-half months, NatConnect said and filed an application under the RTI Act for the information.

Nandakumar Pawar, head of Sagar Shakti, the marine division of Vanashakti, said the Balaji Temple area is ecologically sensitive and there can be no construction whatsoever there. Once the casting yard work is over, the wetland and mangrove zone should be restored and not commercialised, Pawar said.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis performed the ground breaking ceremony for the temple project on June 7, despite the greens’ protests. Shinde has in fact declared that the project has been given the environmental clearance.

Kumar and Pawar said they have absolutely no objection to the temple which could be allotted an alternative plot instead of the eco-sensitive area.

The mangrove cell inspection clearly showed mangroves and intertidal water around the reclaimed casting yard area, Kumar said.

The local fishing community which has been using the area to enter the creek was prevented by the L&T casting yard for the past four to five years. The community was hopeful of getting back the facility now that the casting yard work is over, but shockingly the same plot was allotted for the Balaji temple, Pawar who also heads the Maharashtra unit of the Small-Scale Traditional Fish Workers Union, said.

CIDCO can’t claim that it is a CRZ2 area by pushing the hightide line into the creek, Pawar said. This latest development clearly demonstrates CIDCO’s lack of respect for the environment as the planning agency has allotted mangrove and wetland areas for NMSEZ and JNPA. It is really unfortunate and sad that the government-owned agency is blatantly violating all environmental norms, Pawar regretted.