The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA), which is jointly developing the Vadhavan port in Maharashtra’s Palghar district with the state maritime board, plans to set up a stone quarry on 100 hectares of forest land to source material for the project, JNPA chairperson Unmesh Wagh said.
The state forest department issued a government resolution (GR) allowing JNPA to conduct a geo-technical survey on 295.23 hectares of dense forest in Khanivade and Gargaon villages of Palghar. The survey will include drilling 20 boreholes. Based on the findings, JNPA will select 100 hectares for quarrying, Wagh clarified.
The GR specified that the legal status of the land will remain unchanged during testing and that no tree felling will be permitted at this stage.
However, the move has drawn criticism from environmental activists, who argue that the quarrying will further threaten the fragile ecology of the region.
According to an activist leading protest against the Vadhavan port project, authorities failed to disclose the proposed quarry site during public hearings. It has now emerged that the location is a densely forested area inhabited by tribal communities.
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