WORLI KOLIWADA NAKHWA MATSYA VYAVASAY SAHKARI SOCIETY LTD Vs. MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF GREATER MUMBAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Metropolitan City of Mumbai lies on the Western Coast of India by the bank of the Arabian Sea. Mumbai is made from the group of seven islands and is thus referred to as the Island city. These islands are Isle of Bombay, Mazgaon, Colaba, Old Woman's Island, Parel, Worli, and Salsette Island. The Eastern Coast of Salsette Island has rows of mangroves, whereas the Western Coast happens to be sandy and stony. Due to proximity to the sea, the soil cover of this region is sandy to a large extent. The underlying rocks of this area are made up of Black Deccan Basalt pours. The island city of Mumbai is divided into two distinct regions; the city and the suburbs. The suburbs have alluvial soil type. The major creeks found in Mumbai coast are Manori, Malad and Mahim which protrudes in the mainland and give rise to mudflats and swamps. The area is drained by Mahim, Mithi, Dahisar and Polsar rivers. These small rivers near the coast, form small rivulets which intermingle with each other resulting in swamps and mudflats in the low lying areas. It took over 150 years to join the original seven islands of Mumbai. These seven islands were lush green thickly wooded, and dotted with 22 hills, with the Arabian Sea washing through them at high tide. The first island of Mumbai was only 24 km long and 4 km wide from Dongri to Malabar Hill (at its broadest point), and the other six were Colaba, Old Woman's Island, Mahim, Parel, Worli, Mazgaon. After the British arrived, the demand for land steadily increased, and by 1730; it was becoming impossible to accommodate the entire population of Mumbai inside the Fort. The sea was making inroads at Worli, Mahim and Mahalaxmi, which turned the ground between the islands into a swamp, making travel between Mumbai islands hazardous. The first major reclamation took place in 1708, to construct the causeway between Mahim and Sion. The second major reclamation took place in 1772, to stop the ingress of water and the consequent flooding of central Mumbai, and to connect Mahalaxmi and Worli. This causeway was named Hornby Vellard, sealing the Great Breach (Breach Candy) between Dongri, Malabar hill and Worli. At the fortified Dongri hill, an esplanade and parade ground was cleared, from the walls of the Fort to the present-day Crawford market. The flatlands from Mahalaxmi to Kamathipura were reclaimed only after the completion of construction of Breach Candy by Hornby in 1784. In 1803, Mumbai was connected to Salsette by a causeway from Sion. The Thane and Colaba causeway was built during the tenure of Sir Robert Grant, the Governor of Mumbai. He was also responsible for the construction of several roads between Mumbai and the hinterland. The Colaba Causeway was completed in 1838 joining Colaba, Old Woman's island and the H-shaped island of Mumbai together. Land prices shot up, and Colaba became the centre of commerce. The Causeway was widened and strengthened from 1861 to 1863 (Cusrow Baug is built on the causeway). The horse-drawn tramcars revolutionised transport in Colaba. The Prongs Lighthouse was constructed off the island in 1875, and in the same year, the Sassoon Docks were built by David Sassoon on reclaimed land. The BB & CI (Bombay and Central India) Railways established a terminus at Colaba. Around 90,000 sq. yard of land was reclaimed on the Western shore of Colaba by the City Improvement Trust; the work was completed in 1905. A seaside promenade (Cuffe Parade) was completed the next year. The next reclamation took place in the year 1836 when the development of the Mumbai port had already begun. Major quarrying had already begun in 1870. The hills of Chinchpokli and Byculla were quarried and dumped into the sea, to fill the land near the railway line, the swamps and also the port to prevent the accumulation of stagnant water. The first railway line was laid in 1855 from Bori Bunder to Thane. By 1862 the town became widespread, and the constructions that took place began to give rise to the modern city of Mumbai. This became a regular feature in the succeeding years. The Fort walls were demolished, and the tanks up to Parel were filled. From 1870 to 1970, industrial and commercial development prospered, which increased the spate of reclamation that ended with the famous Backbay reclamation. The first Backbay Reclamation Company (BRC) was formed in the 1960s with the express purpose to reclaim the whole of Backbay. With the end of the American Civil War in 1865, land prices fell. The government took over the narrow strip of land created by the BRC and gave it to the BB & CI Railways (Bombay Baroda and Central India) to construct a new line between Churchgate and Colaba. A proposal was made in 1917 to reclaim 607 hectares of land between Colaba and Backbay. The project was taken over by the Development Directorate who planned to reclaim 463 hectares and relocated the Colaba terminus, which was moved to Bombay Central. The work continued till 1945. Eventually, 177 hectares was developed by 1929 of which 94 hectares was sold to the military, and 6 hectares was incorporated into the Marine Drive and its sea wall. The Independence did not end the reclamation work, but a third Backbay Reclamation was put into effect and yielded the acreage on which stand the high rise buildings of Nariman Point and Cuffe Parade. East of the Naval Dockyards some land was reclaimed, and work was done to the North too. Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) was promulgated in 1990, banning reclamation for commercial activities.

(2.) As the city grew, the population increased. Apart from housing, vehicular traffic increased. By the Resolution No ENV-2011/ CR-55/TC3 dated 30 June 2011 of the State Government, a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) was set up to consider whether coastal roads in Mumbai were a possible solution to solve traffic congestion. An eleven Member Committee comprising (i) Mr. Subodh Kumar, Municipal Commissioner, MCGM (Chairman), (ii) Mr. B.Shrimali, Managing Director, MSRDC (Member), (iii) Dr. Nalini Bhat, Advisor, Ministry of Env. & Forest, Government of India (Member), (iv) Dr.S.R. Shetye, Director, National Institute of Oceanography (Member), (v) Dr. Tarun Kant, Professor of Civil Engineering, IIT, Powai (Member), (vi) Mr. Chandrashekhar Prabhu, Architect/Urban Planner (Member), (vii) Mr. Rajiv Mishra, Architect, Principal, Sir J.J. College of Architecture (Member), (viii) Mr. Hafeez Contractor, Architect (Member), (ix) Mr. P.K. Das, Architect, (Member), (x) Mr. P.R.K. Murthy, Chief, Transport Division, MMRDA (Member) and (xi) Mr. Sharad M. Sabnis, Chief Engineer, MMRDA (MemberSecretary) was set up.

(3.) The JTC submitted its report on 29 December 2011. Divided into seven chapters, the JTC set out the background to consider the need for a ring road/coastal freeway for Mumbai. The background captured by the JTC highlights that the current population of the city was 12.4 million. The city is narrow and had a long NorthSouth axis. The city comprised area of 68.71 Sq. Km. The area comprising Greater Mumbai was 437.71 Sq. Km. and the area comprising Mumbai Metropolitan Region was 4135 Sq. Km. That historically, the characteristic of traffic patterns was Southbound flow in the morning and Northbound flow in the evening. The background captures traffic-related solution issues. It is noted that Motor Vehicles contribution 75% Nitrogen Oxide, 83% Benzene, 77 % particulate matter, 53% volatile organic compounds, 29% Carbon dioxide and 97% Carbon monoxide. It notes that the total number of vehicles registered in Mumbai in the year 2004 was 12,33,675 which rose in the year 2011 to 19,17,798; evidencing an average addition of vehicles per year to be 96000. A further fact noted is that vehicular speed on almost on the roads in the city has reached to as low as a level at 8 km per hour (against the efficient speed of 90 km per hour). Long term ill effect on the health of the residents of Mumbai, noted in a tabular form by the JTC, records that over seven years, the figures would be as under: