Goregaon-Mulund Link Road project: SC to hear BMC plea for nod to fell more trees

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider listing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations plea seeking a nod to fell more trees for the GoregaonMulund Link Road GMLR project subject to compensatory afforestation reported news agency PTIThe top court had permitted the civic bodys tree authority to allow felling of 95 trees for the project on August 14On Thursday the BMC counsel informed the bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran that more trees are needed to be felled and this aspect should be considered at the earliest subject to compensatory afforestation reported PTIThe bench agreed to consider listing the plea for a hearingThe GMLR project aims at developing road connectivity from Western Express Highway to Eastern Express Highway to reduce travel time by almost an hour between Mulund and Goregaon reported PTIThe BMC which is responsible for the ambitious project sought the apex courts permission to cut the trees for the first phase of developmentThe civic body had earlier assured the bench about following rules on compensatory afforestation including those related to geotagging of saplings to be planted in lieu of the felled treesEarlier on October 3 the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC announced that two major infrastructure projectsmdashthe GoregaonndashMulund Link Road and the Mumbai Coastal Road Northmdashwill be expedited following directives from BMC Commissioner Bhushan GagraniDuring the inspection Gagrani emphasised the need to fasttrack the GoregaonndashMulund Link Road project and accelerate processes for obtaining necessary permissions and NoObjection Certificates NOCs for the Mumbai Coastal Road North section stretching from Versova to Bhayandar He also directed officials to complete land acquisition required for the road alignment at the earliestGagrani reviewed Stage 3B of the GoregaonndashMulund Link Road project including the tripletube cutandcover tunnel at Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari in Goregaon and twin tunnels near Borivali adjacent to Sanjay Gandhi National Park Stage 3 spans a total length of 665 km The twin tunnels each 47 km long and 457 meters wide are being constructed underground at depths ranging from 20 to 160 meters and will be interconnected at intervals of 300 meters Each tunnel is designed with stateoftheart facilities including advanced lighting ventilation fire safety systems CCTV surveillance and control rooms at both ends Provisions have also been made for underground stormwater drainage and utility pipelinesA hightech Tunnel Boring Machine TBM imported from Japan has already been deployed for the underground tunnel at Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari with a second TBM expected to arrive by December 2025 Shaft excavation work is currently underway with 35 meters of the shaft already completedFollowing the GoregaonndashMulund inspection Gagrani visited the Mumbai Coastal Road North project site at Charkop reviewing ongoing and planned work under Packages B C D and E He assessed multiple locations along the VersovandashBhayandar corridor including Malad Marina Enclave Sector 8 Charkop Gorai Artillery Grounds Gorai Creek Area Excelsior and Kandarpada Metro Station Areas and Anand Park in Dahisar West Special attention was given to land availability for casting yards construction activity and access roads to ensure smooth progress of the project