Mumbai Following Hindustan Times reports, the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) has asked City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) and the Thane district administration to submit a report over the proposed auction of a 25,000 square metre plot of land in Nerul. The MCZMA had been instructed earlier this week to probe the matter by the union environment ministry, on the basis of complaints by Navi Mumbai residents.
In an article published on July 15, HT quoted a CIDCO official who said how CIDCO put up a plot measuring 25,138.86 square metres (sq m) for auction in Navi Mumbai. The plot in question is expected to earn the state at least ₹350 crore, officials said. However, real estate developers claimed that it could fetch double the amount. On July 25, environmentalists and citizens formed a human chain against the auction of the plot.
CIDCO’s move to auction the land has come under fire as a substantial part of the plot is classified as CRZ-1, which refers to ecologically sensitive areas in the intertidal region where no development is allowed to take place, as per the latest iteration of the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, in 2019. The plot, located in adjoining sectors 54, 56 and 58 in Nerul, is one of 16 plots that will soon be auctioned to private developers, with a reserve price of ₹343.46 crore, and a base floor space index of 1.5.
In a letter to CIDCO, NMMC and the Thane collector on Wednesday, the MCZMA wrote, “You are again requested to verify and take necessary action in the matter. If any violation…is observed, you are requested to take appropriate action after verification and send the factual, detailed action taken report.”
The MCMZA’s action has found support from citizens, who have been campaigning to protect Navi Mumbai’s coastal wetlands. Shruti Agarwal, who along with her husband Sunil, has flagged this issue before the MCZMA multiple times, said, “It is good to see some movement in this regard, but it is disappointing that the MCZMA has all these weeks later been unable to identify such an obvious violation, which it is empowered to do. They just seem to be just passing the bucks back and forth.”