Palghar: Locals Protest Against Jindal Port At Murbe Bay, Cite ‘Scientific Errors’ In Report

Mumbai: The Sindhu Sahyadri Foundation has questioned the validity of the environmental report related to the construction of the Jindal port in the Murbe Bay area. The foundation has asked for the report to be retracted right away because of multiple errors contained in it. Concurrently, the inhabitants of Morba have strongly resisted this port and have warned that they will not allow this detrimental port to be built under any conditions.

The port is expected to significantly impact biodiversity, risking the livelihoods of farmers and landowners, as the fishing industry could suffer devastation. There is worry that if the port becomes full, the coastal towns of Alevadi, Navapur, Nandgaon, and Satpati could be inundated. A few days prior, the inhabitants of Murbe had started a demonstration against Jindal's port.

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These are the grounds for dispute. Bhushan Bhoir, the founder of Sindhu Sahyadri Foundation, asserts that the marine and coastal biodiversity report from Thakur College has many important errors. Misidentification and misnaming of conch species have taken place; living beings found on the rocky shore and ocean floor have been inaccurately classified, according to report by Saamana.

Moreover, pieces of crab legs found in the seabed sediment have been wrongly identified as a separate species. The foundation has condemned the entire report as of poor quality and environmentally deficient due to fundamental and scientifically indefensible errors.

Thakur College prepared a report on the environmental impacts of the proposed port at Murbe and presented it to the responsible company. The report has been submitted to the Pollution Control Board by this organization. Bhushan Bhoir has requested its annulment because of several inaccuracies in the report and has submitted a formal representation to Palghar District Collector Dr. Indurani Jakhar about this issue.