Maharashtra wants Dahanu port despite SC’s embargo

Confirming that such a letter has been written to the Union Government, K Nalinakshan, secretary, Urban Development, said: “We have just sought the permission of the Union ministry for modification of the Supreme Court approved plan. It is a long drawn out procedure…we will have to notify the modifications in the plan, ask for the objections from public and hold a public hearing. But we’ll have to do it since the project is very important for the State.” The importance being accorded to the project can be gauged by Chief Minister Manohar Joshi’s instructions to officials that they should work towards clearing all hurdles for signing the agreement with P&O in the first week December this year.

P&0 Ports (India) Pvt Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of P&O Australia Ports Ltd. The idea of setting up a port in joint venture with the State Government near Vadhavan in Dahanu district was conceived during the Advantage Maharashtra jamboree earlier this year. But the long-drawn debate over the eco-fragility of Dahanu might yet come in the way of the State Government’s plans. It was in 1991 that the Centre declared Dahanu taluka’s 250,000 acres as ecologically fragile, and passed the Dahanu Notification prohibiting change of land-use in the region. Vadhavan, where the port is being planned, is a Green/No-Development Zone in that plan.

In 1996, when the State Government continued to plan major projects in the area in violation of the notification, local groups dragged it to the Supreme Court. In October that year, the court ordered the State to prepare a Master Plan/Regional Plan for the area’s development within two months.

Once the Master Plan was prepared in consonance with the Centre’s notification, the State took the Supreme Court’s permission to refer it to the National Environmental and Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur. NEERI, on its part, recommended some changes. While ordering the State to implement the NEERI recommendations, the court froze the plan till 2015 AD.

But in February 1997 the government announced the construction of a 29-berth industrial port in Vadhavan — which was not part of the Master Plan. It is for this reason that the State has now sought the Centre’s clearance to modify the plan.

Dahanu has an area of about 100,000 acres of forests, farms and wetlands right in the middle of booming industrial belt on Mumbai-Ahmedabad line. It is the home of Warli tribals, well-known for their art work. They have long history of agitating on environmental issues.

Earlier it was thermal power project which had sparked off an agitation involving horticulturists, tribals and fisherfolk of the area. Realising that it was the agitation time again, 14 organisations of tribals, fishermen and environmentalists have formed an alliance — PAIL, Thane (People’s Alliance for Implementation of Law, Thane) — to oppose the “illegal port development”.

With the Australian multinational having concluded a geo-technical survey, oceanographic study and market study in consultation with A F Fergusson for the port — which is expected to have a total throughput of 13.6 MT in phase-I in the first year — all eyes will now be on the team from the Union ministry that is expected to visit the site to take the final decision on the State’s request.

Eco authority set up

The eco-sensitive people in Dahanu taluka got a shot in the arm with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest setting up a Dahanu Taluka Environment (Conservative) Authority.The authority, headed by Justice Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari, is expected to work as watch-dog for preservation of the fragile ecological balance of the region. The committee will have its headquarters in Mumbai.