Mumbai: The ongoing construction work for the Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP), stalled for two months near Cleveland Bunder at Worli due to an ongoing protest by fisher community will raise the cost of the project to a tune of ₹30 crore, civic officials said.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is building a span (bridge) near Cleveland Bunder to connect the coastal road with the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL).
However, members of the Worli Koliwada fisher community who are staging the protest, said that the upcoming span will have a direct impact on their livelihood as they will not be able to safely navigate their boats into the sea.
The 10.58 km road originates near the Princess Street Flyover at Marine Drive and will connect the BWSL through the proposed span at Worli that will be constructed near Cleveland Bunder. The span’s pillars in the sea are proposed to be built with a gap of 56 metres. However, fisherfolk said that they will need at least a 200-metre gap between each pillar for the safe passage of their boats during high tide.
The local artisanal fishing community has been protesting since October 30 due to which construction work on the connecting bridge has been stalled.
The BMC has said they have already suffered a loss of ₹30 crore and if the delay in works continues then the overall cost could escalate further. As per the 2021-22 BMC budget, the cost of this project is ₹12,950 crore including construction and other consultancy charges.
“All the construction works that were happening at Worli and Cleveland Bunder have come to halt for more than two months. The proposed connector is an important aspect of this project because this is the point of interchange from where traffic coming from and going to the northern side of the city using the coastal road will merge with the BWSL,” said a senior official, who didn’t wish to be named.
In December, state environment minister Aaditya Thackeray had said that MCRP will be completed by December 2023. The officials said that the BMC had planned to finish the primary construction works for this span by May 2022, but due to the ongoing protests the BMC is already two months behind its schedule and with monsoon, the project will get delayed further. With an estimated loss of ₹5 crore per month, the BMC has said that they are set to suffer a minimum loss of ₹30 crore for this delay which will increase further if the work doesn’t resume soon.
“The six months delay will cost us ₹30 crore because of the machines and logistics that are lying unused. Besides these, there are other overhead costs which include day to day office expenses, fuel costs, freight charges, manpower and electricity charges. These additional charges will easily escalate the cost of the project by multiple fold,” said the official.
The BMC has appointed the Tata Institute of Social Service (TISS) for carrying out a survey for giving out compensation to the fisherfolk community. The BMC also claimed that they have also offered to pay interim relief compensation to the members in advance however the members are reluctant to give in unless the BMC assures them that the width between the pillars will be increased to 200 metres.
“We have reports of all the state appointed technical agencies which suggests that a width of 30-35 metres will be more than enough for them and here we are proposing a gap of 50-56 metres. Also the existing span at BWSL is only 17 metres wide but they have been operating boats below that for many years now,” the official said.
Nitesh Patil, secretary of Worli Koliwada Nakhwa Matsya Vyavsay Sahakari Society Limited, who is spearheading the movement, said that their protests will continue unless the BMC agrees to increase the width of the span.
“During high tide and monsoon it will become difficult for us to navigate our boats through such a narrow span. We need at least 200 metres of gap for safe passage. There are heavy winds blowing by this area throughout the year and the sea bed near Cleveland Bunder is very dangerous as there are rocks over there. If adequate space is not given to us then the gushing winds will lead to crashing of the boats in the pillars of the proposed bridge,” said Patil.
“Due to the reclamation all our catches have moved away from the shallow waters and we have to travel deep into the sea for our daily catch. Now if we don’t have enough space to navigate our boats then how are we supposed to sail into the sea? We have our own source of livelihood but if our demands are not taken into consideration then it will be difficult for us to survive,” he said.
Royal Patil, another member of the community, said that earlier this week, the BMC had written to them saying that a committee of TISS members will visit them for a survey.
“We are not withdrawing our protest unless the demands are not met. They can do as many surveys as they want but we know the loss that we will face if our demands are not met,” said Royal Patil.
The Worli Police had, on December 19, issued a notice to protesting fisherfolk under Section 49 of the Criminal Procedure Code, instructing them to “stop interfering” with ongoing Coastal Road construction work being carried out by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), or face prosecution. Since October 14, fisherfolk have prevented the BMC’s contractor from constructing the interchange between the Coastal Road and the Worli end of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, which they maintain will cut them off from their traditional fishing grounds.
Despite being warned of penal action, the fishers once again occupied the waters of the construction site (for the 10th time since October 14). Their demand is that the interchange’s design be revised to include a span of 200 metres under the bridge, to allow safe passage for their boats. Else the project will force them to shut down operations at Cleveland Bunder, a traditional Koli fishing port in Worli Koliwada, which locals estimate is at least a century old and supports between 40 to 60 motorised and non-motorised fishing boats on any given day, in addition to employing a large number of non-Koli and migrant fishers.
(With inputs from Prayag Arora Desai)
