CIDCO has no nod to cut down Kharghar hill: RTI

Cutting activities allegedly being carried out at Kharghar hills

In a startling development, the state environment department has confirmed that it has not given permission to city planner CIDCO to cut Kharghar hills for a golf course project.

NatConnect Foundation, an NGO, has clicked pictures of cutting activities at Kharghar hills in May 2022 and they were sent to the authorities.

In response to an RTI filed by NatConnect Foundation, the environment department said it has no information about permission being given for the work.

NatConnect director BN Kumar told mid-day that the response letter was signed by DS Bhalerao, public information officer (PIO) cum-scientist in the environment and climate change department. In reply to the RTI, Bhalerao said the query had been referred to CIDCO.

Kumar pointed out that CIDCO ought to have obtained permission from the environment department and, as per the National Green Tribunal ruling in the Parsik hill quarry case, prior environmental clearance is required for stone mining.

Also Read: ‘Why delay hiring primary teachers for BMC schools?'

"This is exactly why scores of miners from all over Maharashtra have now queued up at the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority for permissions. The hill cutting is nothing but quarrying as CIDCO has been using the dug-up material for landfills and construction of the Kharghar golf course extension," said Kumar.

It may be noted that following a complaint from NatConnect, the Raigad district officials sealed the equipment at the hill cutting site for a couple of days in February. But the officials backed off after CIDCO claimed that the hill is part of their land.

NatConnect has also complained to the chief minister, who asked the environment principal secretary twice over to look into the issue and take action. Yet, Kumar stated, there has been no action whatsoever and the quarrying continued.

Bhagwan Kesbhat, founder and CEO of Waatavaran, said the CIDCO's action impacts the tribal population in the foothills who have been allotted the area for social forestry.

The tribal groups, under the banner of Vana Hakk Samiti, had once formed a human chain to protect the hills as they feared that the hill cutting would lead to landslides.

Kharghar-based activist Jyoti Nadkarni alleged, "CIDCO seems to have forgotten that it had commissioned Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) to carry out a study to create a nature park on the hill stretch in 2007. The BNHS report is gathering dust on CIDCO shelves while residents are being subjected to continuous pollution."

Nareshchandra Singh of Kharghar Wetlands and Hills group said it was "highly disappointing" that a government-owned planning agency was not respecting environmental norms. The lush green hills act as a natural balancing feature for the concrete jungle in the fast-developing node, and it is heartbreaking to see them being destroyed, he said.