Further reclamation could swallow Versova8217; 8212; Expert

MUMBAI, June 14: Nature always finds a way,'' says Jeff Goldblum's character in Jurassic Park, to explain why apparently sterile dinosaur...

MUMBAI, June 14: Nature always finds a way,8221; says Jeff Goldblum8217;s character in Jurassic Park, to explain why apparently sterile dinosaurs began multiplying. A similar analogy could explain why a 100-mt-long sandy stretch at Versova stands to be washed away. All thanks to massive reclamation along Backbay about 30 years ago and about 25 km south, say experts. Nature, indeed finds a way.

Only recently, the state government set up a committee to study a proposal to reclaim huge portions of the city8217;s west coast. The project, called the Western Waterfront Development: Mumbai8217; plan, envisages reclaiming 17.5 km on the coast between Raj Bhavan and Worli to provide over 400 acres of green cover. The scheme, which will cost Rs 200 crore, completely overlooks the fact that all the BMC8217;s 400 acres of vacant plots can be developed for this amount. Besides, the consequences of this large-scale reclamation could be devastating, at least for Versova, says Professor V Subramanyan, who is conducting coastal geomorphology studies to establish the effects of reclamation on the city.

8220;The natural marine process of erosion has been interfered with and the sea, with all its fury has shifted centres and is attacking a 100-metre stretch at Versova,8221; explains the professor, who also heads the Department of Earth Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Powai.

Any futher reclamation could speed up erosion at Versova and even ultimately result in a Versova Bay8217;, where the sea could totally swallow the land, forming a bay not unlike the one at Mahim.

The buildings at Versova are being undermined since the 1970s, the only strip in Mumbai which undergoes an annual ritual of severe marine erosion. Ten buildings along Jaiprakash Road have borne the brunt of wave fury.

The area has been geographically unkind to the posh residential locality. The Madh Island protrusion acts as a lens focusing8217; the impact of the waves on Versova.

Prof Subramanyan says the only remedy is the construction of deeply-founded retaining walls, a metre across like those at Marine Drive with triangular buttresses.

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Buildings should not have been constructed so near the sea at Versova, sacrificing structural integrity and safety for aesthetics, he says. 8220;Just as we have no business constructing on the flood plains of rivers, we should not construct or reclaim land near the sea,8221; he explains.