Mumbai News: Green Activists To Protest Cutting Of 9,000 Mangroves For Versova-Bhayandar Coastal Road At BMC Public Hearing

Mumbai: Green activists of Mumbai are expected to participate in large numbers at Friday’s public hearing to oppose the cutting of 9,000 mangroves for the Versova Coastal Road. Environmentalists have been preparing to mark their protest against the destruction of mangroves through posters and banners at the municipal corporation headquarter.

As the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to extend the Coastal Road with the second phase to connect Versova with Bhayandar, the project has sparked concerns among environmentalists. The project is expected to affect 60,000 mangroves, including cutting 6,000 mangroves, which is being opposed by green activists and reported by The Free Press Journal.

On Friday, the chief engineer of BMC’s Development Plan (DP) department will hold a public hearing at 2.30pm to hear citizens’ pleas about the cutting of 9,000 mangroves to make way for the Versova-Bhayandar Coastal Road. As the hearing will be a crucial step towards the materialisation of the project, environmentalists are eyeing to express their resentment against it at the Friday hearing.

Reading Room India, an online community of over 95,000 readers, took to social media to ask Mumbaikars to attend the public hearing to save the mangroves from being cut. It has suggested the participants get printouts of newspaper clippings and be present at the hearing along with their friends, colleagues and supporters. The community had earlier launched an initiative asking its community members to email the government opposing the project.

“These mangroves are scheduled to be cut and then replanted 800km near Tadoba in Chandrapur district. Mangroves in Tadoba can’t save Mumbai during the monsoons. All of you have seen how Mumbai’s roads flood during the rains. Expect much more of that when these mangroves get cut. If you want to be heard, be there. Make a stand. This could be our last chance to save the mangroves,” read an Instagram post by Reading Room India.

Environmentalists and activists associated with the Fridays For Future initiative’s Mumbai arm are also expected to be present at the meeting in large numbers.

“Although I don’t live near the locality which is near the projected path of the coastal road, I will attend the public hearing and will also share my thoughts about how cutting down the mangroves can be destructive for the city,” said Yash Aggarwal, an environmental activist , associated with FFF Mumbai.