CIDCO’s Nerul plot falls in CRZ: MCZMA

Navi Mumbai: After the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) stay on the City and Industrial Development Corporation’s (CIDCO) proposed auction of a 25,000 square metre plot in Nerul in September, the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) has now filed an affidavit substantiating the claims that the plot falls under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) restrictions.

A petition was filed by Navi Mumbai Environment Preservation Society (NMEPS) in the NGT on August 18, 2022, questioning the CIDCO’s move to sell the plot situated near Nerul Jetty in violation of the CRZ norms.

The next hearing of the petition will be held on December 20.

As per the affidavit filed by the MCZMA, which is the fourth respondent in the petition, on November 17, the plot 2A, located in sector 54, 56 and 58 of Nerul (West), is found to be falling partly in CRZ I and partly in CRZ II areas. In the affidavit, it further stated that no application for CRZ clearance was received by the MCZMA, nor it granted a clearance for auctioning of the plot.

The affidavit mentioned, “A Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) was prepared by Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, Chennai for the Government of Maharashtra and approved in February 2019 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Prima facie comparing the said the CZMP and Google Image, it is observed that the present area in dispute partly falls in CRZ I and CRZ II.”

“The coastal authority has explained in detail the parameters through which specific areas are declared as falling under CRZ I and II zones. Based on the parameters, the MCZMA has deduced that the disputed plot falls in both categories. This substantiates our viewpoint of the sale of the plot by the CIDCO to be in total violation which, if not prevented, will harm the safety net of the city from floods and other environmental disasters,” said VK Gandhi, president, NMEPS.

The response from the MCMZA has given residents a hope of CIDCO aborting the plan. When contacted, CIDCO, however, maintained that the proposed sale is not in violation of any norms. They, however, refused to comment.

“The MCMZA affidavit before the NGT has strengthened the petition questioning the sale of the plot that falls under the mangrove belt. The CIDCO should now ideally abort its plans to sell the plot and also reconsider wasting public money in baseless legal fights,” another activist, Sunil Agarwal, told HT.