Tansa Pipeline Project: Bombay HC orders Govt to shift project affected people out of “dangerously polluted” Mahul

The Bombay High Court on Monday came to the rescue of scores of people found to have been shifted to heavily polluted alternate accommodation in Mahul due to the Tansa Pipeline Project. On September 16, the Court had reserved its order on the petitions filed challenging the allotment of these tenements for Project Affected Persons (PAP) in a colony called Eversmile Layout in Mahul, near Chembur..The state government has now been directed not to shift more families to the region and to offer alternate accommodation to the Project Affected Persons within twelve weeks. Further, in respect of those persons who were already shifted to the region, the Court has ordered the payment of Rs. 15,000 per month as transit rent, along with a refundable security deposit of Rs. 45, 000..The Project Affect Persons had approached the Court with the following grievances,.Proximity of the PAP colony to various refineries, industrial activities to the PAP colony entailed in exposure to high levels of carcinogenic air pollution;Presence of residential premises in close proximity of the industrial belts in Mahul poses a threat to the security of the industries and refineries, as well as to the safety of the residents themselves.The PAP colony is bereft of hygienic conditions and basic amenities, including schools and medical centres..Additionally, the High Court also noted further that,.“With the exception of the PAP colonies the Respondent State Authorities have been constructing in the region over the past two decades, there is limited presence of residential buildings and premises within this area of Mahul. In fact, the Supreme Court and this Court have passed orders, at the behest of the refineries of the region, estopping the development of private residential buildings in this industrial belt. “.After perusing the material on record, the Court proceed to find that the air pollution in Mahul continues to be disturbingly high, particularly in terms of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) posing a threat to human life. In this regard, it placed reliance on recent environment reports prepared by three government agencies, namely the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the NEERI as well as an a report prepared by the IIT in March this year, also detailing the social and infrastructural deficiencies in the area..“It is apparent from a perusal of the joint report prepared by the MPCB, CPCB and NEERI dated 01 January 2019, the Report of NEERI dated 01 February 2019 and the IIT report dated 4th March 2019 that Mahul continues to be a dangerously polluted region….…It is evident that the report dated 04th March 2019 of the IIT is self explanatory, and portrays an irrefutable picture of the fate of those persons being compelled to live in Mahul against their will, not merely in terms of their health, but also the domino effect of their poor health on their ability to live a dignified life as self sufficient, productive members of society.“.In view of the same, the Court also pointed out that the state government could not place reliance on earlier outdated reports to challenge observations made by the NGT in the 2015 judgment of Charudatt Pandurang Koli v M/s Sea Lord and Ors..In that judgment, the NGT had observed in paragraph 25 that “there is a perceptible threat to health of the residents of village Mahul and Ambapada due to prevailing air quality in the area.” Dismissing contentions made by the state that this observation should be been restricted to the prevalent air pollution in the area at the time of passing the judgement, the High Court observed,.“It (NGT order) would mean that air quality needed to be monitored constantly and if no improvement was found, suitable directions need to be issued keeping in view the prevalent air condition monitored over a period of four years…It means air quality at Mahul needed to be monitored constantly over four years and if no improvement was found, suitable directions need to be issued.”.Moreover, the High Court also noted that even police officers planned to be deployed in the area by the state for security purposes were yet to be allotted, in view of the same concerns raised by the petitioners..“It is noteworthy that in order to quell the concerns about security within the PAP Complex, the State Government and Municipal Corporation had planned to allot 2000 police officers and constables homes in the Eversmile Complex. These officers were intended to be deputed within the Complex to oversee the safety of the neighbouring industries and refineries. However, to this day not a single police officer has been ready to accept the homes allotted to them in Eversmile Complex due to the fact that they share the same concerns about safety and the exposure to the air pollution in the region.”.In view of these concerns, the Court proceeded to direct as follows,.“…we direct that no family required to be rehabilitated as a consequence of slum clearance would be shifted to the PAP colonies in Mahul or Ambapada and those who have been rehabilitated at the said two colonies under the slum rehabilitation schemes would be offered accommodation elsewhere and till alternative accommodation is made available they would be paid ₹ 15,000/- per month as transit rent with security deposit of ₹ 45,000/- upon the family rehabilitated through its head filing an application seeking to move out and upon the condition that upon receipt of the security deposit and commitment to be paid transit rent, if no other alternative accommodation is provided, the family moves out.“.Disposing of batch of petitions filed by residents and project-affected people in Mahul, the Court gave the state 12 weeks time to comply with the directions..[Read Judgement dated September 23, 2019]