Mumbai: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on August 4, took suo motu cognisance of the alleged illegal quarrying behind the Tata Memorial Hospital’s Advanced Centre for Treatment and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) in Navi Mumbai. The NGT took up the matter at its own initiative following news reports, triggered by complaints from residents, activists and the hospital authorities.
The principal bench of the NGT in Delhi said that the quarrying matter suggests that it violated the Maharashtra Minor Mineral Rules, the Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, and the Environment (Protection) Act.
The NGT directed the Raigad collector, the state pollution control board, the Nagpur directorate of geology and mining, and the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) to respond to them in an affidavit within a week. The case was then forwarded to the Pune western bench and scheduled for hearing on September 17.
The director of ACTREC, Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi, had written to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on July 10 highlighting the health hazards of the quarry blasting on the northwestern hill adjacent to the hospital. In his letter, Chaturvedi said, “The dust blankets the residential areas and infiltrates the sterile treatment zones within the hospital. This poses an acute threat to the immunocompromised patients undergoing life-saving treatment such as bone marrow transplant and proton therapy.” The letter added that the hospital’s equipment was under constant risk of contamination due to airborne particulate matter.
Founder of the NatConnect foundation, a not-for-profit company campaigning for the issues of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), BN Kumar, said, “The quarrying work could also jeopardise the construction work for the Kharghar-Turbhe tunnel.” According to the aerial measurements, the quarrying stretch extends for more than half a kilometer along a stretch where dozens of trucks travel daily.
Responding to a Right to Information query by Kumar in July, the NMMC and the Raigad collector confirmed that they had not given any permissions for the quarrying works at the eco-sensitive location.
The convenor of the Kharghar Wetlands and Hills forum, Jyoti Nadkarni, raised concerns for the people who will be travelling through the tunnel. “There cannot be a quarrying activity taking place close to a tunnel. The blasting is so loud that when people pass through it, one can feel the earth shaking,” said Nadkarni. She added that such stone work should not take place in the monsoon because it could destabilise the land and even cause landslides.