NAVI MUMBAI | June 06, 2017: With Parsik Hill — a captive quarry mining belt — catering to buyers from Mumbai and Thane for construction and development--- an issue that has come to the fore is that the hill was grossly being used to develop areas other than the city.
It was also cheaper to procure the raw material in the MMR. The city referred to is popularly identified as Navi Mumbai with a separate civic body (NMMC), where the 70 lease rights dot the the hill range.
Although a part of Thane district, the city referred is under NMMC jurisdiction developed by Cidco, and it has its distinct identity. The contention is that the city has reached a saturation point of development and was being victimised both by activists and also quietly shared by the NMMC. The southern part of Navi Mumbai ( now described as south city ) is under develooment phase with mega Cidco projects with a big chunk under the newly-formed Panvel city municipal corporation.
A Navi Mumbai city resident has filed case before national green tribunal ( NGT) for stopping quarrying ---as it has been done beyond permissible limit and concern of the green cover. A petition will be filed soon before the NGT,'' said director of environment cell, Nand Kumar Pawar of Shree Ekavira Aai Pratisthanto.
MoEF has given the mining rights for 20 years in 2006 till 2026, but Cidco rules permitted lease rights for 10 years till September end in 2016. The issue of continuing mining rights for the next 10 years is the thorny issue under examination before the tribunal.
B N Kumar , president of public relations council of India said, ''We are not against development, but enough resources are available beyond the Western ghats in the Deccan plateau. If the government can regulate the price of milk it can always do it for stone chips also.''
Mass communication industry pan-India body Public relation Council of India (PRCI) has launched this campaign. Four NGOs -Shree Ekavira, Awaaz Foundation, Watchdog Foundation and Vanashakti - have supported the PRCI campaign. NMMC has also stepped up pressure on Cidco and revived the demand for handing over the abandoned mines so that they could be restored. Additional commissioner, Ankush Chavan told TOI Tuesday, `We will raise the issue besides other demands with the MD, Cidco.'' Navi Mumbai quarry owners association said the raw material was cheaper in the city as there were more mines and also it was close to Mumbai, so there was an advantage of transportation cost.
Stone chips and stone sand from the mines in the city are sold at a cheaper rate compared to other parts of the MMR. According to the association, one brass (four ton) of stone chip (M1 and M2 size —10mm and 20 mm) costs Rs 900-Rs 1000 and stone sand Rs 1800 while they would cost as much as Rs 2500 and Rs 4000 in Bhiwandi and in Panvel area Rs 2200 and Rs 3000.
(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)