City's hope of getting a landfill site to accommodate the 6,000 tonnes garbage it disposes each day seems to be fast diminishing with environmentalists opposing the BMC’s request for modifications in the status of the proposed 141-hectare Kanjurmarg site.

In an affidavit filed by BEAG on Friday, the group questioned a recent Notice of Motion taken out by the BMC seeking permission from the high court for destruction of mangroves in the site.

The BMC has also requested modifications to the court’s order of October 6, 2005 (calling for a total freeze on the destruction and cutting of mangroves in the entire State of Maharashtra) to permit development of the landfill site and exclusion of 141.77 hectares of the garbage dump site from the protected forest notification.

The BMC got the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance from the Centre for the Kanjurmarg dumping site in mid-March, but environmentalists later filed a petition in high court against the civic body’s request to fell mangroves on about 20 hectares of the 141-hectare plot.

Debi Goenka of BEAG questioned two affidavits filed by the BMC (on April 3) and the state’s urban development department (on April 8). Goenka in his rejoinder said: “MOEF had granted conditional approval only for 65.96 hectares — the portion said not to be ‘affected by mangroves’. The notice of motion goes beyond that conditional permission. This cannot be permitted by law.”

Goenka further stated: “The proposed site is surrounded on all four sides by mangroves. Within the site, there are saltpans and mangroves of varying density. By definition mangroves are in a CRZ-I area. Salt pans too can exist only in an area subject to tidal action. Clearly, the site is not and could never have been free of CRZ.” BEAG pointed out that by filing a notice of motion, seeking removal of mangroves from the site, the BMC itself makes these points clear.

... contd.