Mumbai: BMC drops a pillar to increase span for fishing boats at Cleveland Bunder

Fisherfolk offer prayers at Golfa Devi temple in Worli after receiving the BMC notification on Tuesday. Pic/Bipin Kokate

The BMC has finally agreed to a long-standing demand of Worli fishermen - increasing the span between two pillars of the Coastal Road at Cleveland Bunder. After a joint committee comprising experts from Goa's National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) and representatives of fisherfolk was set up in October to address the concern, the fishermen association recently received a letter from the BMC that one of the pillars will not be erected to increase the span from 60 to 120 metres. Though the demand was to increase the span to 200 metres, the fishermen have agreed to compromise. Additional Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide confirmed the development.

On October 2, the protesters had met with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at his official residence Varsha over the demand. "The CM immediately formed a committee of members of the NIO; experts such as Dr Surendra Thakurdesai, head of the geography department of Ratnagiri's Gogate-Jogalekar College; Dilip Bhatkar, engineer and director of Marine Syndicate Pvt Ltd; and fishermen representatives, including Royal Patil and I along with others. There were no representatives from the BMC, but the civic body was playing a supporting role. The committee submitted its report and we received a letter from a Coastal Road engineer that pillar number 8 will be removed. So there will be a distance of 120 metres between pillars 7 and 9," said Nitesh Patil, president of the Worli Koliwada Nakhwa Matsya Vyavsay Sahakari Society.

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He added that they had requested for a navigable span of at least 200 metres, as opposed to 60 metres, under the interchanges. "The Maharashtra Maritime Board continuously surveys depths near shore areas and publishes hydrographic charts which clearly show the shallow rocky nature of the bed in front of Cleveland Bunder. These rocks not only add to the risk of collision but also make water more turbulent and thus a wider span is required. Though the demand was not fully accepted, we will compromise," Patil said.

A BMC official said, "To resolve the issue of the span, a joint committee comprising seven members from NIO, representatives of fishermen and experts was formed. The panel, which met on November 9, 2022, recommended the 120-metre navigation span for boats of fishermen at Cleveland Bunder Jetty. The recommendations of the committee have been accepted by the BMC after careful consideration.

Subsequently, general consultants of the project are requested to notify the change between Pier PP7-PP9 by removing PP8 Pier and also to submit a detailed report of the impact of change in span by critically studying and evaluating the bridge type, with least cost and least time requirement considering all the parameters essential in execution of the work at the earliest."

Fisherfolk from Worli Koliwada had first raised their concern about the short span between pillars of the Coastal Road in 2016 and demanded that the distance be increased to 200 metres for safe navigation of fishing boats. In a letter to the BMC in November 2021, Worli Koliwada Nakhwa Matsya Vyavsay Sahakari Society and Worli Koliwada Sarvodaya Sahakari Society mentioned that a span of 60 metres is a death trap. There were multiple meetings between fisherfolk and the corporation, but the civic body was firm on the design with a span of 60 metres between two pillars. The fisher community started agitation, bringing work on the Coastal Road to a halt in November 2021.

The NIO, in its report to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in 2021, stated that a 60-metre distance between pillars is sufficient and appropriate. The NIO report argues that ‘boats are not stationary floating bodies that would drift as mentioned in the report but are motorised vessels that have controlled movement'. The fisherfolk, however, said the corporation sent the study to NIO to refute the report submitted by them.

60
The original length of the span (in metres)