Mumbai: ‘Unresponsive netas’ made students move HC – Times of India

MUMBAI: Omkar Supekar resides in Hostel 13 at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay where he is pursuing his PhD in Indian philosophy and environmental ethics. His window overlooks Powai lake. Last July, fr om his window he could see a platform being built on the lake, trees being cut and a gabion wall coming up.
Disturbed, Supekar (left, in pic) said, he called the police three to four times and each time was told nothing was amiss. He then called the ward office but did not receive a satisfactory answer, so he visited S Ward office with friend Abhishek Tripathi (right, in pic), also a PhD student then. They were informed the work was being carried out by the BMC’s hydraulic engineering department. Off they went to the Ghatkopar office only to be told work was being done as per instructio ns. Taking up the cause came naturally to the two. Omkar was associated with NGOs while studying at Fergusson College Pune where he carried out a survey on the factors responsible for pollution i n Mula and Mutha rivers. Abhishek credits his rural background and the unease he felt thinking about the flora and fauna that would be impacted.
“It is a 10km stretch and 8 -9 metres wide. Imagine the harm it would cause the lake, the birds, animals, insects that live here,” said Abhishek.
In August, when the BMC started cutting trees on the la-ke’s edge, they began taking pictures and st arted an online campaign on change. org. “We got 5,000 signatures. We then wrote to the union ministry of environment, forests and climate change about what was happening. The minist ry issued notices to Wetlands Authority, Water Pollution Control Board, the state revenue and forest department and called for a report. This r eport is still awaited,” said Omkar.
They approached the local MLA and MP and wrote to the state environment minister. Their queries under Right to Information Act went unans-wered, they said. “We then decided to go to court. The chair professor from our department of humanities and social sciences put us in touch with our lawyer who fought pro bono,” said Tripathi.
“A long-time Powai resident, Shyam Saxena, shared old pictures of the lake and surroundings. Detailed plans were made available to us only after we filed the PIL and were shared as part of the BMC affidavit,” said Omkar. “W e hope the BMC will now give priority to stop ingress of sewage into the lake and r emoval of hyacinths choking it,” they said.