Shift coal depot, save mangroves

The Bombay high court on Monday suggested the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) to shift the thermal coal depot, which has resulted in large-scale destruction of mangroves in the Sewri mudflats due to slippage from the depot.

The division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice NM Jamdar said, “Why don’t you consider storing the coal somewhere inside (the MbPT area)? Or else, the coal can also be directly taken to the power stations for which it is being imported.”

The bench made the suggestions after the counsel for MbPT informed the court that the coal was imported for thermal power plants, and was stored at MbPT coal depots for a temporary period between its downloading at the port and the actual transportation to its destination.

The suggestion was made during the hearing of a suo moto public interest litigation (PIL) taken up by the HC based on reports in a newspaper highlighting large-scale destruction of lush green mangroves at the Sewri bay due to slippage from the adjoining coal depot, and at Charkop due to large-scale illegal dumping of debris and garbage.

Earlier, the court had directed National Environmental Engineering and Research Institute (NEERI) to send a team to both the sites and submit an inspection report along with possible remedial measures.

Accordingly, NEERI had submitted its report on the destruction of mangroves at Sewri mudflats and concluded that the destruction was caused over the last three- and-a-half years primarily due to the pollution caused by the stored coal.

The MbPT has already started taking steps to comply with the short-term remedial measures suggested by NEERI.
The court has adjourned the proceedings till September 13.