Lake near Sahar over 10 yrs: NGO

NGO WATCHDOG FOUNDATION COMPLAINED TO THE CENTRE AND THE BMC ON MONDAY

The Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) has destroyed a water body near the Sahar village by dumping debris into it over a period of time, a city-based NGO has alleged.

The Watchdog Foundation, in a complaint to the Union environment ministry and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday, alleged that about a quarter-of-an-acre of the water body was destroyed almost 10 years ago, after which it has vanished. The NGO submitted satellite images of the water body as it stood in 2013, the state of the body in 2007 — when the Mumbai airport was privatised — and 2017, when the body cannot be seen at all.

“The water body was clearly visible earlier. The members of my NGO and I have seen proof of its existence until 2007,” said Godfrey Pimenta, trustee of Watchdog Foundation.

“In 2007, the maps clearly show the size of the water body was scaled down to almost negligible levels through the dumping of debris. Now, 10 years later, the water body has vanished,” he said.

MIAL officials, however, denied the allegation and called it ‘false’ and ‘baseless’. “Our records show such a water body has never existed. Protecting the environment is of prime impor tance to us,” said an MIAL spokesperson.

Pimenta said the NGO could not procure pictures of the lake as MIAL had cordoned off the area citing ‘security concerns’. “The Centre is coming up with schemes to repair, renovate and restore such water bodies. But this case is a blatant violation o environmental laws,” said Pimenta. BMC officials said they had not received the complaint.

“We have past records of wate bodies according to the develop ment plan maps. We will check i the water body existed. We wil investigate whether there has been a violation,” said a senio BMC official. A mapping of the city’s water bodies in 2007-08 the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Environment Improvement Soci ety (MMR-EIS) found that of the city’s 103 water bodies, only 10 were listed in the 1991 DP as either tanks or lakes.