The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Ltd (MSRDC) has applied to clear a forested area essential to the proposed extension of the Juhu and Versova connectors towards the Western Express Highway (WEH) — an important development related to the Versova Bandra Sea Link (VBSL) project.

Sources from MSRDC told mid-day that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEF&CC) has been approached for getting the forest clearance for construction of the connectors. Close to 3 hectares of mangrove forest land will have to be diverted for the project, which includes the construction of connectors in Juhu and Versova.

“In the mangrove area, road shall only be constructed on stilts. There would be a loss of about 1585 mangrove trees in 1500 square metres of mangrove land affected during construction at the Carter Road connector, the Juhu Koliwada connector and the Versora connector. As committed by the project proponent (MSRDC), 10 times the number of mangroves destroyed/cut i.e. 15,850 mangrove trees shall be regenerated/replantation at an appropriate location, in consultation with the Mangrove Cell of the Department of Forests, Government of Maharashtra,” states one of the letters related to the project.