In a setback for the ambitious 22-km-long Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) project, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) — which comes under the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF), has asked the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to revisit a few of its conditions before the project takes off.
This means that the MTHL project of the MMRDA is yet to secure clearance from the FAC, as it has expressed concerns over a few technicalities. “The report on the forest area submitted by the district collector to the FAC had stated that there was no presence of tribals residing in the area; the FAC is of the view that the MMRDA should revisit this issue,” said a senior MMRDA official, who did not wish to be named. However, once the MMRDA gets the clearance, it will develop a forest of more than the size of the one that is there currently, added the MMRDA official.
In the meantime, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the funding authority, is also conducting a survey for the MTHL.
The internal assessment report is expected to be given soon. The MMRDA was made to apply for fresh permissions from the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA), ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had suspended the CRZ clearance in which it questioned the way MCZMA and MoEF gave clearance to the project. The state wildlife board in December had given clearance for diversion of the status of forest land.
