Bombay High Court allows BMC to widen Mahim Causeway bridge

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday allowed an application filed by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) seeking permission to widen the Mahim Causeway bridge and the platforms of two pipelines which supply water to South Mumbai to ensure smooth flow of river water into the Arabian Sea.

A division bench of Justice VM Kanade and Justice Nutan Sardesai said, "God forbid something goes wrong and two pipelines supplying water to South Mumbai are affected, entire Mumbai will be without water and a chaotic situation will be created. In public interest we thus grant permission to the corporation."

The civic body had moved the court as the repairs it intends to carry out on the three bridges at Mahim are within 50 metres of the mangroves. An order passed by the court in 2010 directed public authorities to take prior permission from the high court before carrying out public work around mangroves. Appearing for the corporation counsel SU Kamdar and advocate Trupti Puranik argued before the court that since the Mithi river has been widened after the 2005 floods, the flow of the river hits a bottleneck near Mahim Causeway. Furthermore, the water of the river partially submerges the pipelines. Thus, there are chances that it may contaminate the water if there is seepage.

Bombay Environment Action group, a group fighting for protecting mangroves, opposed the plea of the civic body on the grounds that the National Green Tribunal in a recent order had observed that Mithi river widening had caused severe environment damage.

The court after studying the tribunal's order said the apprehensions of the NGO were misconceived and the purpose of widening the bridge could be similar to widening of the river bed.