Mumbai: The BMC received around 110 suggestions and objections against the hacking of trees for the reconstruction of the Malabar Hill reservoir. As all these green plots fall under Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) 2, the civic body will take prior CRZ approval before starting the work, reminded the citizens.
They also requested to save as many as trees or construct a new tank in another place. The hydraulic engineering department will submit a report clearing the queries in the next 7 to 10 days, said a civic official.
Hearing on hacking of 189 trees
The civic body’s garden department conducted a hearing on suggestions and objections to hack 189 trees affected in the reconstruction of the 136-year-old reservoir at Malabar Hill. More than 100 citizens were present at the hearing which took place at the garden superintendent’s office at Byculla Zoo on Thursday evening.
Zoru Bhathena, an environmental activist who raised an objection said, “As per the development plan-2034, green plots falling under CRZ-2 are deemed to be CRZ-III no development zone plots under CRZ regulations. No work can be done on such plots without prior CRZ approval. Also, the reservoir is situated directly above the coastal road tunnel. To the best of our information, no load can be added to this tunnel, and no work can be carried out above this tunnel without the BMC’s coastal road no objection certificate.”
He further added that the development plan also reveals a DP Road being proposed along the green plots adjoining hanging gardens. It is thus necessary to verify that no trees are being cut for a road in the way of water reservoir repairs.
Final call by civic chief
However, the sources from the civic garden department said, “All the objections and queries have been sent to the hydraulic engineering department to verify and send a report on the queries. The department has requested us to give them 7 to 10 days of time. This report will be sent to the civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal for the final call.”
The BMC pasted tree removal notices on several trees in the hanging garden on September 6, which irked the activists. The project aims to increase the capacity of the reservoir from 147.78 million litres to 191 million litres to augment the water supply to South Mumbai. However, the BMC couldn’t start the work on a new tank even after allotting the contract last year, since several trees needed to be hacked for the project. The civic officials conducted a survey of the 389 trees at the site and proposed to hack 189 trees while 200 trees were transplanted.
