Progress can never happen at the cost of the environment

Motorists on the Sion-Pavel highway to benefit. File pic/Shadab Khan

While CIDCO authorities have begun construction of the Kharghar-Turbhe link road project, which involves drilling a tunnel through the Pandavkada hills, a Right To Information (RTI) has shown that information regarding the environmental impact assessment is not available with the state environment department for the R2100 crore project, a report stated in this paper.

Navi Mumbai-based NGO NatConnect Foundation sought information from the state environment and climate change department about the environmental impact assessment (EIA) study, as the road is being built through the eco-sensitive Pandavkada hills, part of the Kharghar hills. An EIA report is mandatory in such cases. The official response posted on the RTI Maharashtra website stated that the information sought was unavailable.

However, green warriors claim that this is a standard response when there is no answer. Let there be some transparency when we are looking at environmental factors and people must be convinced about the impact this may or may not have for the area.

A Bombay Natural History Society survey that was carried out for developing a nature park in the Belapur-Kharghar hill stretch recorded the existence of 239 plant species, 295 insect species, 15 other invertebrates, 12 fishes, nine amphibians, 28 reptiles, 179 birds and 12 mammal species. Let us seek to maintain some balance between biodiversity and development. The first step would be to build some trust between environmentalists and corporate entities. If there is a genuine effort between both sides, one can start building a foundation on which we can keep the balance first and foremost.