MUMBAI, February 1: In a blatant violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), a clandestine attempt was made overnight to reclaim nearly one acre of the sea coast by dumping construction debris and destroying the ecologically sensitive mangroves over a fortnight back in Colaba. On the night of January 15, nearly 70 truckloads of debris were dumped in the sea near the Ganesh Murthi Nagar slums in Colaba, Backbay Reclamation. The operation began around 4.45 pm and ended well into the night.There were eight trucks involved in the exercise, which according to local Congress corporator Puran Doshi, was coordinated by three local leaders - Maruti Vithal Umape, Pravin A and Babu Nirbhavene. Though Doshi has submitted the three names to the collector's office and also alerted the police beat chowky at Ganesh Murthi Nagar, no action has been initiated as yet. Doshi, in fact, has also given the licence plate numbers of the eight trucks (MMR 2805, MMR 7714, MHO 5264, MMR 7958, MMK 1457, MHG 3744, MQC 3666 andMH-014H-3580) involved in the operation to the police.``The officials at the collector's office merely assured me that action would be taken; but nothing happened,'' Doshi told Express Newsline on Saturday. He added that the police should have immediately seized the trucks and taken appropriate action against the owners.``The slumlords in the area usually connive with politicians to grab the sea coast this way and then sell the reclaimed land at a premium.taking into account the high real estate prices in Colaba-Cuffe Parade, there is big money involved here,'' Doshi said.Collector Sanjay Chahande could not be contacted as he was on leave. However, Suburban Collector V Gavai, who is holding the additional charge of the city in Chahande's absence, said: ``We have already stopped the illegal dumping of debris at Colaba and are in the process of registering an offence against the guilty, in fact the police is being intimated about it.''Gavai added that this was not the first such CRZ violation inthe area. Over 25 similar offences have been registered before and some of the offenders were also booked. A police official stated on the condition of anonymity that preliminary investigations have revealed that the three persons named by Doshi in his complaint are members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party.
