Submit report on desilting of Nilje Desai creek by June 8: Bombay high court to KDMC and TMC – Times of India

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has directed Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) and Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) to submit by June 8 a report on steps taken towards the removal of debris and desilting of Nilje Desai creek at Sheel Phata in Thane district.
The two civic bodies had in April undertaken before the HC to complete desilting in Thane district by May 30, after a resident filed a contempt petition for noncompliance with an August 2021 order to clean it.
“It seems that the State of Maharashtra failed to take appropriate action as per River Regulation Policy which was formulated by them pursuant to the orders passed by this Court in other matters,’’ the HC had said last August.
The petitioner, Sushil Nimbalkar, on May 27, wrote through his lawyer Jeet Gandhi to the KDMC ward officer that the work, despite the assurance to the HC, does not appear to be complete. He said the garbage has not yet been removed from the creek.
The HC bench of Justices K K Tated and Prithviraj Chavan had last August said “…Authorities are taking the orders in a casual manner. Because of that, several persons staying nearby the creek are being affected each year. Therefore, we are satisfied that in the interest of justice, it is necessary to direct the respondents-Authorities to
take appropriate steps to clean the said creek every year prior to the arrival of monsoon.’’
In response to the contempt petition, the HC bench of justices Revati Mohite Dere and Madhav Jamdar had on April 28 noted that a letter by the district joint commissioner, municipal administration, Thane to the additional government pleader PG Sawant, shows the district collector has formed a committee comprising of the Officers of TMC and KDMC and regional officers of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board of Kalyan and Thane region on March 15, 2022. Pursuant to the formation of the committee, a meeting was held on April 13, 2022.‘’
The district collector has directed the regional officer and the corporations to visit the site and submit a combined visit report within two weeks, the high court order had noted.
The counsel for TMC and KDMC stated that they will complete the de-silting and removal of debris and boulders from Nilje-Desai Creek, prior to May 30, 2022, the HC noted and said, “statement accepted.’’
In its August 2021 order, the HC recorded Nimbalkar’s counsel Amogh Singh’s submission that the “creek falls within the teeth of the coastal regulation zone and is, therefore, an ecologically sensitive water body’’.
Singh had said ‘dumping and discharge of pollutants, effluents, and dumping of debris, boulders, etc. into the creek have led to catastrophic flooding around the Creek. The issue of flooding can easily be resolved by de-silting the creek prior to monsoon every year which will lead to increasing the depth of the Riverbed and allow easy access for the stormwater to be drained into the sea.’’
The HC had also recorded the reply of the Maharashtra Maritime Board submitted through counsel Narayan Sahu which said the petition was “nothing but a tactic to cause under harassment’’ to the board which had successfully completed a beautification project of the Nilje-Desai creek in March 2021 in the larger public interest.