PIL in High Court over dismal condition of Mumbai’s coastline

Voicing concern over the ‘dismal’ condition of the coastal water of Mumbai, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Bombay High Court. The PIL has sought directions to frame guidelines to stop the pollution of the coastal waters of the city.

The PIL has been filed by Citizen Circle for Social Welfare and Education, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) through advocate Shehzad Naqvi. The petition has sought directions to the civic body to ensure that sewage is not dumped or discharged at the coast line and that the same is discharged at a distance.

The petition states, “We are aggrieved by the dismal condition of the coastal water of Mumbai, which is polluted to the extreme level, which is dangerous to the entire ecosystem and the public at large has been complaining about it. Pertinently, we have personally surveyed the coastal areas of the city, to find out about the effects and causes of water pollution and have relied upon several reports on the causes and effect/impact of pollution of the coastal water.”

The PIL states that a survey conducted by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has revealed that almost all the coastlines in the city are polluted and worst is the water of Mithi river.

“It is shocking that there are several points along the coastline at Marine Drive, where the sewage is discharged through big sewage pipes directly into the Arabian Sea at the coast line itself whereas, it is the duty and the responsibility civic body to discharge sewage at the distance of about 3.7 km from the coast line, which is a practice followed worldwide to to keep the coast line clean,” the petition states.

Accordingly, the petitioners have sought directions to the civic body amongst other respondents to immediately frame appropriate policy/law, in-order to stop the flow of sewage into the ‘Mithi River’, by laying drainage system in the vicinity and also, to impose penalty on all the dwellers in case they are found discharging their trash in the river. The petitioners have also sought directions to upgrade the sewage treatment plants and to form a mechanism to verify whether all the sewage treated at such plants is treated to its optimum level.

The petitioners have sought directions to stop the inflow of sewage into the Mithi River