The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a four-member committee to go into the complaints of violations of Coastal Regulatory Zone violations in the expansion of JNPT Container Terminal-IV and submit “an independent factual report” in three months. Hearing a complaint filed by the Uran based fisherman Dilip Pandurang Koli and others against the union government challenging the manner in which an Environmental Clearance (EC) was granted to JNPT for the expansion on October 9, 2019, the western zonal bench of NGT headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel also issued a notice to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Control (MoEF&CC). The four-member committee comprises representatives from the ministry, Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board, the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA), and the Raigad district magistrate. The appellants argued that the fragile ecology of the area has been subject to an onslaught of environmentally destructive activities by JNPT. The appeal challenged the joint CRZ and Environmental Clearance granted to JNPT by the MoEF & CC, on the ground that it was done on the wrong footing that the CRZ area consisted of the project site is CRZ-IV, while it actually falls within CRZ-IA, where no fresh construction activities are permitted as per the CRZ Notification of 2011.
The appellant said the mandatory stage of public consultation under the EIA Notification, 2006 has been foregone, without any valid basis and JNPT had violated the conditions of previous Environmental Clearances. The application also said there has been a rich history of fishing activities in Uran taluka, and the project impact assessment that preceded the grant of the impugned joint EC and CRZ Clearance has disregarded this completely. The original EC was issued in July 2008, extended in February 2014 and the impugned CRZ clearance was issued in July 2019 which was challenged now. NGT noted the grievance of the appellants that the JNPT expansion area has been identified as ecologically sensitive area by the MCZMA and falls under the CRZ-1A as per the coastal zone map. No construction is permitted in CRZ–1A. The reclamation that is proposed to be carried out for the balance work of the 4th container terminal will seriously impact fishing activities being carried out by traditional fisherfolk that have a large presence in the area. The fragile ecology of the area has been subject to an onslaught of environmentally destructive activities. The expansion of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port over the years has seen wetlands destroyed, mangroves razed and rich fishing grounds destroyed. Deepening and widening of the navigational channel, dredging, blocking the tidal flow of water in the course of the expansion of the Port has caused considerable damage to the natural ecosystem of the area.
The rich and diverse ecology of the area has been the subject of several reports and studies. The NGT Bench opined that response of the concerned statutory authorities and ascertainment of ground factual situation is required and hence issued order for constituting the committee. Justices Sudhir Agarwal, M. Sathyanarayanan and Brijesh Sethi were the judicial members, while Dr Nagin Nanda, was the expert member of the Bench that heard the application and passed the order on June 23. Next hearing will be held on October 27 after the receipt of the committee report. The applicants pointed out that there were discrepancies in the environment compliance reports that were not discussed at the MCZMA meeting before issuing the clearance in July 2019. Welcoming the order, environmentalist B N Kumar, director of NatConnect Foundation, expressed the hope that the truth would come out.
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