Date | May 10, 2017:

There seems to be no immediate resolution to the crisis of pre-monsoon road repairs in Mumbai being stalled allegedly due to unavailability of raw materials, as a National Green Tribunal (NGT) hearing on whether to allow the mining to continue in Navi Mumbai quarries will be heard after two months. The next hearing has been scheduled for July 19 as all ten parties have not submitted affidavits before the tribunal.

Unavailability of raw materials due to quarries in Navi Mumbai not operating has been cited by contractors as the primary reason for pre-monsoon road repair works having stalled in the city.

A Navi Mumbai resident had filed a petition before the NGT seeking closure of quarries in Navi Mumbai, and had contended that mining was one of the reasons for pollution in the city. The petitioner pointed out that mining had been carried out beyond permissible limits and further mining can affect the environment.

Following the complaint, the NGT had made ten government agencies party in the petition and asked each of them to file affidavits, by May 8, clarifying their stand on whether quarrying activity should be allowed to continue in Navi Mumbai. However, according to sources, only six government departments have filed the affidavits so far.

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), one of the several respondents in the case, has already filed its affidavit and has held blasting and transportation of quarried stones as being one of the reasons for pollution.

City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), which gave the mining lease rights for 70 quarries which fall under the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation's jurisdiction, have also been made party in the petition. CIDCO has cleared its stand that quarries need to adhere to the stipulated green norms, while NMMC has already been opposing mining activities for a long time. The environmental status report of NMMC (2015-16) had also pointed out that quarrying activities was one of the major reason for pollution.

Namdeo Thakur, president of Navi Mumbai Quarry Owners Association president, said, "Now, for the next two and half months, we cannot expect any relief and the quarrying activity cannot be carried out."

He, however, added that the Chief Minister can intervene in the issue and resolve it, as NGT had not asked for the quarries to be shut down. " There is no official order to shut down the quarries. It is because the Thane Collector office has stopped collecting royalty as a precautionary measure while the case is being heard in the NGT, that we cannot carry out any mining activities," said Thankur.

(Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/)