He claims that the contractor, who did illegal land filling on the proposed car depot at Aarey, is removing the mud after being questioned by the suburban collector
A city-based green activist has alleged that a contractor of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, who has been doing the work on a 30 hectare plot proposed for the car depot, has started removing mud that was illegally dumped there, after they had to give an explanation to the Suburban Collector's office.
Truckloads of mud from the plot are allegedly being taken out
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Environmental activist Zoru Bhathena alleged, "Despite an NGT order to maintain status quo, and not do any work on the car depot plot inside Aarey, the MMRC contractor had done illegal land filling on the plot. They have now started removing the mud illegally dumped on the plot."
The green activist has alleged that in October 2017 they noticed that dumping work had started on the 30 ha plot at Aarey. Following this the Aarey conservation group had filed complaints with the Collector.
"When we approached the collector's office and filed a complaint, we were informed that the collector had granted 'excavation' permission. We objected that land filling cannot be done based on an excavation permission. We also moved the NGT questioning how the collector can issue such a permission," added Bhathena.
The activists claim that on November 2 they noticed that mud was being removed from the 30 ha plot, and truck loads of it were leaving Aarey via a gate adjacent to the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road.
No permission was granted
"We noticed that all the mud dumped on the 30 ha plot was being removed, and the land was being restored to the original low level. Today I visited the Collector's office, and inspected Aarey/Metro III files, and came across a shocking fact. MMRC had applied for land filling permission in Sept 17, but no permission was granted by the Collector's office. The collector had sent our complaint to MMRC for an answer. In the MMRC reply they denied that any land filling activity had commenced on the plot. It is thus clear that MMRC is now quickly removing the mud illegally dumped on the 30 ha plot, and restoring the land to original level to hide their wrong doing," alleged Bhathena.
MMRC speak
"We are removing loose soil and also the debris dumped by unknown elements illegally over a period of time, to reach the parent soil and to prepare the ground for earth work for the depot. As of now no soil is being brought in from outside," said a spokesperson from MMRC.
Truckloads of mud from the plot are allegedly being taken out
30 ha
The area of the plot where the contractor allegedly filled land illegally
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