THACKERAY MEMORIAL NOT AT COST OF ECOLOGY: HC

MUMBAI: The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court (HC) has directed the civic authorities to ensure that the (late) Balasaheb Thackeray memorial planned to be erected in the city by December 2022 is not built at the cost of the ecology and biodiversity of the garden. The HC has further directed that commercial units, public amenities and access routes should not be developed in a manner that will require the felling of trees.

A division bench of justice Ravindra Ghuge and justice S G Mehare, while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Yogesh Bharsakhale and another person, was informed by advocates S S Khivansara and Shubham Agarwal that the petition raised concerns over the clearing of large green cover to accommodate the memorial and other public amenities in its wake. The PIL sought monitoring by the court to ensure that the memorial was developed like a forest and that the trees and plants, water bodies and the overall ecology were maintained.

After hearing these concerns, the bench issued detailed guidelines pertaining to the construction, access to, and maintenance of the memorial. The court also suggested that a committee be constituted headed by the divisional commissioner and including the district collector, municipal commissioner/administrator along with environmental experts to ensure preservation of the ecology at the project location.

While referring to the venue known as Priyadarshini Udyan, the bench held that while catering to the needs of visitors to the memorial was important, the same should not be done by razing trees but by enhancing green cover. “If this is achieved, the land being utilised by the government for the memorial, would turn out to be a lung to the CIDCO area, which is now reported to be occupied by a population of almost 3.5 lakh people,” the bench observed.

The bench appreciated the will of the people involved in the PIL and said that it had no doubt that they were desirous of the memorial to come up in the best possible manner and be a tourist attraction by maintaining the greenery and biodiversity.