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Environmentalists predict that Navi Mumbai’s IT hub won’t be environmentally friendly
According to local environmentalists, the planned IT project in the Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone (NMSEZ) will be disastrous since it will be built on mangroves and wetlands in Uran. The state government authorised the creation of an Integrated Industrial Authority with 85% commercial and 15% residential usage in the NMSEZ earlier this year.
The chief minister and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) have received complaints from NatConnect Foundation about the allocation of large areas of mangrove zones and wetlands to NMSEZ by CIDCO. In addition, it was claimed that the degradation of mangroves and wetlands had gone uncontrolled.
According to NatConnect, not even the Bombay high court’s directives to repair the wetlands and mangroves have been followed. Given this, it claimed that the future project will undoubtedly result in catastrophes.
“The careless dumping on mangroves and wetlands is already creating floods in communities and rice fields,” said Nandakumar Pawar, director of Sagarshakti. “This is because the development has impeded the free passage of tidal water and raised land levels for the Dronagiri node.”
“Project proponents could label us doomsayers, but nature has already started to fight back with roads built on mangroves and wetlands growing large gaps and numerous towns struggling from floods,” he continued. The state approved the development of IT-related projects in the zone on February 17.
According to the GR, in addition to a medical school, a hospital, and related infrastructure, the integrated industrial area will also have an industry-academic partnership to promote training and skill development programmes through skill, development centres, research and development centres, training centres, digital centres, information, technology centres, training centres for art, performance, and sports, etc. According to green organisations, all of these will be built on mangroves and wetlands that make up the NMSEZ, and they “won’t be safe.”
“The 289-hectare intertidal Panje wetland, which is also meant to be a holding pond as a flood protection technique, is one of the key locations under dispute. The holding pond will vanish as a result of the holding pond area being designated by CIDCO as a part of the NMSEZ sector 16 to 28, according to Pawar, who also issued a flood warning for the region because there won’t be any land left over to absorb the extra water.
He said, “It is a question of basic knowledge that wetlands work as sponges to hold water and, regrettably, the urban planners lack it. “All mangroves are meant to have been given to the forest department for protection and conservation, according the high court’s September 2018 judgement, however there is no record of the tidal water plants under NMSEZ. “We have not heard anything more,” Pawar said of the chief minister’s request to the Mangrove Cell to examine these marine plants.
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NMMC Cracks Down on Illegal Construction in Airoli
Civic enforcement team partially demolishes unauthorized structure following ignored legal warnings.
The Constructions
The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) carried out a partial demolition drive in Sector 2B, Airoli, targeting an unauthorized construction that persisted despite explicit legal warnings. The enforcement action focused on illegal developments across Plots 118, 119, and 120 under the G Ward administration, involving developers Sanjaykumar Dubey, Pratibhakumari, and contractor Santosh Halse, who had previously been served a formal statutory notice under Section 54 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act, 1966.
When the party ignored directives to voluntarily dismantle the unapproved framework and continued building, the encroachment department intervened under the direction of the Municipal Commissioner, deploying an 18-member labor crew armed with heavy demolition equipment, concrete breakers, gas cutters, and generators to bring down the structure. Local police personnel were stationed throughout the site to maintain order, and civic officials emphasized that this operation is part of an intensified, ongoing citywide effort to curb illegal developments across all administrative wards in Navi Mumbai.
Latest News
Retired Pensioner Duped of Rs 1.57 Crore in Fake Digital Arrest Scam
Cyber fraudsters hold a 90-year-old Nerul resident and his wife under virtual captivity for six weeks by posing as government authorities.
The Scam
A 90-year-old retired Central Government pensioner and his wife residing in Nerul fell victim to a massive cyber fraud, losing Rs 1.57 crore after being held under a terrifying “digital arrest” for nearly six weeks. The ordeal began when the victim received a phone call from an individual posing as a telecommunications officer who claimed the elderly man’s mobile number was linked to illegal activities in Bengaluru, before handing the video call over to accomplices impersonating officers from the CBI, Supreme Court, Karnataka Police, and Reserve Bank of India.
To trap the couple in complete isolation, the fraudsters presented forged arrest warrants over WhatsApp, invoked strict legal threats under the Official Secrets Act, and ordered them to stay confined inside their home without informing family or friends. Operating under the guise of an urgent financial audit by the RBI to clear their names, the scammers manipulated the terrified couple into transferring their lifetime savings across multiple transactions, even sending fake Supreme Court receipts to maintain the illusion of an ongoing legal procedure.
The couple finally realized they had been tricked after coming across newspaper reports describing identical scam tactics, prompting them to approach the Navi Mumbai Cyber Police, who have now registered a formal case and urged citizens to remember that no legitimate agency ever carries out arrests or demands fund transfers over video calls.
Latest News
Daily Commute Turns Hazardous on Turbhe Flyover
Potholes, poor visibility, and aggressive swerving endanger motorists navigating the vital Navi Mumbai corridor.
The Flyover
Traversing the Turbhe flyover has turned into a perilous daily ordeal for thousands of commuters as decaying road conditions and inadequate lighting create severe safety hazards along one of Navi Mumbai’s busiest transit routes. Motorists report that deep potholes, uneven asphalt patches, and loose gravel have compromised overall vehicle stability across the elevated stretch, placing two-wheeler riders at an exceptionally high risk of skidding during peak rush hours or sudden rainfall.
The deteriorating infrastructure frequently forces drivers to slam on their brakes or make sudden, erratic lane changes to dodge deep craters, triggering frustrating traffic bottlenecks and constant minor rear-end collisions. Making matters worse, non-functional streetlights across key segments leave long stretches of the flyover shrouded in darkness at night, hiding severe road defects from oncoming traffic and making temporary, low-quality patch-up jobs wash away rapidly.
Fed up with piecemeal fixes, local residents and motorist associations are urgently demanding that civic authorities and traffic police intervene by executing full-scale asphalt resurfacing, restoring missing street illumination, and deploying officers to strictly curb reckless lane-cutting during rush hours.
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