Civic body clarifies that the proposals for creating a community space, including a cycle track/walkway along the periphery of the lake do not entail any building construction and competent authorities have approved the project
BMC workers clean the Powai Lake in September this year. File pic
In the face of opposition from several quarters to the construction of a cycle track along the periphery of Powai Lake, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) issued a detailed explanation on Friday and clarified that the lake was built by the civic body and was not a naturally occurring water body. The corporation also made it clear that the proposals for creating a community space, including a cycle track/walkway along the periphery of the lake do not entail any building construction and competent authorities have approved the project.
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Lake is not a natural one
A BMC official said, “The lake was sanctioned by the Standing Committee in November 1889 and built by 1891. Despite several remedial measures, issues related to poor quality of water, such as sewage ingress, resultant silting and hyacinth growth persist even today.”
Environment clearance not needed
The civic body further states, as the lake has been there for 125 years, it was declared a Natural Heritage Site by Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee. Powai Lake is not part of the SGNP and it is the corporation’s land. The lake is not included in the notified list of wetlands, and hence, any rules applicable to wetlands or issues of violation of the Ramsar Convention are not applicable to the site development.
The Powai Lake reservoir is demarcated as a Natural Area in the Development Plan. The work at the lake is in line with Part VII of Regulation 3.7, which states that an environmentally sensitive zone is amenable to development with the approval of the competent authority, and boardwalks, trekking facilities, public sanitary facilities for visitors and sewage pumping stations are permissible. The project has been approved by the appropriate competent authorities and it does not qualify for an Environmental Clearance by the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority.
No building construction
As per the civic body, the cycle track/walkway along the periphery of the lake do not entail any building construction. It is a landscape and site development project and provides a free, accessible and inclusive community space.
The space will provide better access to the lake for cleaning and maintaining water quality and securing the edge of the lake from further soil erosion and any form of encroachment.
Measures by BMC
The BMC has initiated several interceptors and rerouting measures to prevent sewage ingress into the lake. It has also installed one barge-mounted sub-surface aerator with two aspirators, and will further install seven non-invasive, single jet floating aerator-type fountains to transfer oxygen from the atmosphere into the water through enriched water droplets.
Trees won’t be cut
Numbering of trees along the alignment of the proposed cycle track was carried out for recording purposes; they won’t be cut.
Committee of experts
The committee constituted by BMC to discuss the site development and carry out any mitigation measures includes Dr Rakesh Kumar, environmental scientist, NEERI/CSIR (chairperson); Dr Deepak Apte, environment specialist and marine biologist, BNHS; Dr Pramod Salaskar, environment specialist on Powai Lake; Dr Kedar Bhide, herpetologist; IIT-Bombay representative, Professor D N Singh and a hydraulic engineer.
Gabion wall
“The committee considers the gabion wall technology as the most adaptable method of construction, as it will be least intrusive to the natural environment of the lake,” said P Velarasu, additional commissioner of the BMC.
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