The All Maharashtra Fishermen’s Action Committee (AMFAC) has threatened to launch an agitation against the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) if it goes ahead and builds a sea bridge between Nariman Point and Cuffe Parade. The MMRDA plans to construct the 1.3 km of sea bridge to decongest the interior roads of south Mumbai and connect it to the under-construction coastal road from Nariman Point.
The fishermen have claimed that the project would affect their fishing activity and small fishermen would have to be rehabilitated. They have also protested against the coastal road project earlier, as they think it would affect their profession. The project is estimated to cost Rs 350 crore. Last week, the MMRDA had floated a tender for design and construction of the four-lane bridge.
The MMRDA believes the sea bridge would be a crucial infrastructure project for south Mumbai and also help vehicular traffic movement at World Trade Center, Cuffe Parade, Colaba and Mantralaya during peak hours by cutting travel time.
Devendra Damodar Tandel, the AMFAC president, said, “There is a resentment among the fishermen community as they say the project has been planned arbitrarily and is being implemented without consulting them. The connector will hamper fishing business and deprive the fishermen of their traditional occupation.”
Tandel, along with other AMFAC committee members, had met MMRDA officials and Mumbai Guardian Minister Aslam Shaikh to register their protest on Thursday.
Questioning if the project is really needed, Tandel said that traffic congestion on Captain Prakash Pethe Marg is caused by the ongoing Metro corridor construction work. “…connecting Nariman Point from Electric House will help solve this traffic problem,” he added. “Almost 90 per cent of the corporate offices at Cuffe Parade have been relocated to Navi Mumbai and Parel… it is imperative to find out whether this sea link is really needed once the Metro work gets over,” said Tandel.
“Section 41 of the National Green Tribunal order, dated 2015, acknowledges that the land under the sea belongs to the fishermen… If MMRDA insists on trespassing on marine land of fishermen, a case will be filed against it under Contempt of Court Act, 1971,” he added. The MMRDA, however, claimed that it will rehabilitate the fishermen who would be affected by the project. It has said that a new jetty will be built and longer spans would be used on the bridge to provide navigational channel for movement of fishing boats.