Mumbai: Ecomix plant draws flak from Wadala residents

Bhakti Park residents have raised their voices against a readymix concrete plant established about a year ago on revenue department land surrounded by mangroves in Wadala East The plant which belongs to the firm Ecomix received a closure notice from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board MPCB in May after it was found to have been set up in violation of normsAbout 230 sq m in size the plant is situated on three plots adjoining the Eastern Freeway Officials from the mangrove cell said there is a 50m buffer zone between the plant and the mangroves as per a Bombay High Court orderldquoThe land used to be under the MMRDA Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and then it was handed back to the collectorrsquos officerdquo said an official from the mangrove cell The plant has been supplying material for the redevelopment of BDD chawlsResidentsrsquo reservationsldquoIt is likely because it is for a government project that they were provided permission there otherwise usually such companies are not allowed to come up around mangrovesrdquo the official saidKavita Malkani who has been living in Bhakti Park since 2010 said residents started noticing it only in the past few months ldquoIt poses a risk to the mangroves and to the health of the residents We noticed a spike in dust after this plant came up How did it receive permissionrdquo she saidShe added ldquoThere is constant construction work here and it is neverending We are tired of poor air quality although it has been a little better now because of the monsoon Otherwise you can smell the pollutionrdquoAnother resident Rohit Keluskar alleged that onduty traffic police officials are allowing the movement of cement concrete trucks on the Eastern Freeway ldquoWe started noticing the movement of a lot of trucks coming in through the freeway A lot of that cement dust used to remain on the roadsrdquo he saidNetizensrsquo outrageWhile no one has written a letter to the authorities similar concerns were raised on X formerly Twitter on Tuesday ldquoHow has a cementmixing plant come up on land which was covered by mangroves near Bhakti Park next to the freewayrdquo posted X user BombaystoriesMPCBrsquos Regional Officer Sanjay Bhosale said Ecomix was served a closure notice in May after which it started complying with the guidelines ldquoDust was accumulating and the plant lacked a water sprinkling systemrdquo he saidldquoThey havenrsquot been given permission to restart operationsrdquo he addedSunil Bhadange executive engineer with MHADArsquos BDD building redevelopment implementation cell said ldquoThe land there has been provided to Tata Projects and they are responsible for that but they are taking all the precautionsrdquoOther sideAmarjeet Sudan from Tata Projectrsquos communication team said ldquoTCC a joint venture between Tata Projects Capacite and CITIC is working on the BDD chawl project in Worli for the project awarded by MHADA The authority has provided land to TCC to set up a concretemix plant and TCC has handed over the said land to Ecomix to set up the RMC plant and supply concrete to the BDD project They have received all the necessary approvals from the relevant authorities for its setup and operations The Ecomix plant serves as the supplier for all BDD chawl projects in Mumbai not the Worli project exclusively The concrete supplied by Ecomix is part of its broader supply chain responsibilities across BDD projectsrdquoEcomixrsquos lawyer Prakkash Rohira said ldquoMy clients would further want to clarify that they are not in violation of any pollution control norms We donrsquot understand the concern regarding proximity to the mangroves or land selection as set out herein and the relevance to itrdquo230sq m approx size of plant