Mangroves make way for golf course

However, the proposal raises several weighty questions. For one, the plot, behind Bangur Nagar in Goregaon, falls plum in an area goverened by the central government’s Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification, 1991. It is also located in the city’s No-Development Zone, where construction activity is severely restricted.

Second, though the necessary clearances are yet to be received, land-filling and reclamation along the city’s waterfront has already begun. Residents say truckloads of debris are being hauled in daily since the last two months and the mangroves are being felled and cleared.

Confirming that a proposal to build a golfing green has indeed been submitted, Jeejeebhoy was however cagey when questioned further. “The land is privately owned and it is no concern of the citizens as to what takes place within its vicinity,” he told Newsline. Asked whether there was a problem with the project, all he was willing to say was: “The salinity of the area is a problem”. “The area falls in the No-Development Zone,” he admitted. Violation of the CRZ notification — which prohibits any construction/development activity within 500 mt of the high tide line, invites non-bailable arrest.

Asked about the proposal, Municipal Commissioner V Ranganathan told Newsline that Jeejeebhoy had visited him with an application for the respective permissions today. “I am aware that it is a huge chunk of land and it will take some time before I analyse and discuss the matter.”

The proposal has already raised the hackles of environmental activists, who believe that the entire project is illegal. “Developmental activities on such a scale abuse the CRZ laws and is completely illegal,” says Debi Goenka.

Meanwhile, land-filling activity continues unabated. The seemingly innocuous activity though means destruction of the breeding ground for a large number of fish that take shelter under the roots of the mangrove forests in the corrugated channels of the creek. Depletion of the mangroves would also devastate the ecosystem at large.

Half the plot on which the golf course proposes to be built has already been cleared, the cracked mud a clear indication of the ongoing reclamation of the marshland.