As a mark of people’s protest against Mumbai’s ambitious Rs. 13,000-crore, 34-km Coastal Road Project (CRP), the first Independent People’s Tribunal (IPT) on Environment was held in the city on Friday.
Academicians, environmentalists, transport experts, former judges and bureaucrats and locals participated in day-long deliberations over the project, which if completed, will connect the South and North parts of the city. However, the project has raised several questions over its economics, environmental impact, displacement of traditional fisherfolks and its feasibility.
“The primary aim of the IPT is to provide information about this project to locals and to experts. Despite the release of the detailed project report, little has been said and discussed in public about the project and its ramifications,” said Darryl D’Monte, a member of the organising committee.
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He said the IPT would also look in to the feasibility of this road. “Whether it achieves the primary focus of decongesting roads in the city,” he said.
A number of experts who deposed before the IPT stressed that the ‘need’ for the project had not been clearly stated by the government. “The suburban railway network of Mumbai carried around eight million people daily. The coastal road is expected to carry three lakh passengers per day. How can spending Rs. 13,000 crore on this but not even Rs 1000 crore on railways justified as a good governance?” asked environmentalist Rishi Aggrawal.
Hussain Indorewala, urban planning expert, said the project would be counter-productive from the perspective of traffic congestion management, wasteful in terms of public expenditure, disruptive in terms of ecology and livelihoods and ignores cheaper and more effective alternatives. “A project that serves to transport not more than 1.5% of the city’s population on any given day it is more of a private amenity than a public good,” he said in his presentation.
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The Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee said that it being a high value project was a reason that it was much loved by political decision makers. “It does nothing for 99% of Mumbai citizens. As long as people can be fooled in to believing it is all for their benefit,” said the committee.
Fishermen too have come out in protest against the project, as it threatens to affect their livelihood. Primary reason being the road interfering with landing of boats. In their deposition, the community members claimed that the road will destroy the breeding grounds of fish as mangroves will be cut for reclamation. Fishing villages in Mumbai and organisations of fisherfolks registered their opposition to the project during the IPT.