Environment protection missing from poll agenda of parties in Maharashtra, claim activists

Thane: Activists have claimed that political parties contesting Maharashtra assembly elections are least concerned about environmental issues in Mumbai and its metropolitan region, which could result in dangerous consequences in the future.

According to activists representing not-for-profit organisations and citizen groups, unusual rains, flooding, and air and sea pollution are among the key issues that concern every citizen amid vanishing wetlands.

“Mumbai and its regional urban centres have been fighting for open spaces. A horrible scenario is prevailing as the lands of erstwhile textile mills were converted into concrete jungles with nil focus on tree plantation,” said NatConnect director B N Kumar.

He said a WHO report on shrinking per capita open space in Mumbai and its metropolitan region is self-explanatory on the stifling air pollution and appealed to political parties to move beyond usual election rhetoric and focus equally on environmental care.

Concurring with this view, Sagar Shakti director Nandakumar Pawar claimed the creek and sea waters are becoming highly contaminated whereas officials remain in a denial mode despite complaints.

“Areas like Uran in coastal Raigad district have witnessed the burial of inter-tidal wetlands. Some villages have been reeling under unseasonal floods as the natural course of water has been getting diverted,” he said.

Pawar said the proposed move to use salt pan lands for developing housing complexes at places such as Mulund in Mumbai could potentially flood the city as the “urban sponges” disappear.

Mumbai didn’t learn lessons from its own experience and the flooding of places such as Chennai. A WWF study has recently stated that over 60% of Chenna’s wetlands are buried with real estate and this leads to monsoon flooding in the city, he said.

The organisations claimed that the erstwhile MVA government had drafted a Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP) but it was relegated to the back burner under the successive government.

The Shiv Sena-UBT is the lone political outfit that mentions environmental care in its manifesto and promises to revive the climate action plan for all the districts, they claimed.

Jyoti Nadkarni of Kharghar Hills and Wetlands group said wetlands and mangroves are being damaged under the guise of projects such as PM Awas Yojana (PMAY) or coastal roads.

Mumbai’s rapid urbanisation has resulted in challenges that directly affect public health, infrastructure resilience, and environmental sustainability, said advocate Godfrey Pimenta, director of Watchdog Foundation.

Mumbai’s air quality has been worsening due to the continuous rise in uncontrolled construction activities and an increase in vehicular traffic, posing a serious health risk, particularly to children and the elderly, he said.

Elections to 288 seats will be held on November 20 and votes will be counted on November 23.