Water scarcity in Vasai taluka of Thane district of Maharashtra is a natural phenomenon, aggravated further through unplanned developmental activities in the region. Vasai taluka encompasses about 138,540 hectares of area. Topographically it is divided into three parts: The western side consists of a fertile strip of land admeasuring about 4,000 hectares, popularly known as the green belt or garden belt and is located on the coast of Vasai taluka. Touching this on the eastern side is a barren stretch of land admeasuring about 78,000 hectares, popularly known is ‘khartan’; it is at a slightly lower elevation than the garden belt. To the east of khartan is a large mass of hilly land (comprising the major part of Vasai taluka) at an elevation higher than the khartan land, popularly known as the “jungal patti’ or ‘hilly tract’. The khartan portion of the land acts as the natural drainage to the ingress of the sea water and its outflow. The green belt has more than enough water, both for its domestic as well as for its agricultural purposes. The Bombay Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (BMRDA) in its plan 1971091, accepting this fact, reserved the whole of Vasai taluka within the green belt as a green zone. But today the entire taluka is reeling under unprecedented drinking water shortage. On August 31, 1988, the Urban Development Department of the Government of Maharashtra issued a notification under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act 1966, communication its intention to modify the BMRDA plan under section 20(3) of the Act, seeking to convert about 65 villages in the Vasai taluka comprising about 8,000 hectares of land from the G to the U zone. (Green to Urbanisable). On the May 14, 1990 the government of Maharashtra passed the notification adding another 3,000 hectares. The above changes were based on a short report that turned a blind eye to any plan, policy or perspective, or rather the builders’ lobby was being cultivated and nurtured. The population of the Vasai-Virar sub-region jumped from 2,40,000 in 1981 to 6,00,000 in 1990, almost a three hundred percent increase in 10 years. The clandestine and illegal constructions increased by the thousands. Voices raised by environmentalists were drowned by stage managed demonstrations demanding employment. The devastation, both ecological and economic, glares one in the face. Pumping out nearly five million litres of ground water from the green zone daily is taking its toll, both on the entrails of mother earth and on the pockets of the incoming new residents. There is alarming ingress of sea and brackish water in the underground water storage systems. The water table itself has gone down beyond the 300 feet limit. Drinking water has become scarce! The people have to pay through their nose for tanker water that is neither hygienic nor treated nor chlorinated. Rampant construction taking place in the landfilled natural drainage, the khartan land, is now resulting in unseasonal and seasonal flooding of the green belt area. Denudation of the hilly tracts is also resulting in runoffs that drain the earth at one spot and flood it at another. Water is a recyclable resource. Unbridled construction, denudation in the name of construction and poor management of water has prevented water from being recycled or replenished. An ecological disaster is not far off. The hard earned money that many a salaried person has invested in permanent shelters will go down the drain first. Pauperization is the next step. Self sufficient agricultural practices are diminishing. The present government has recently called for a meeting for a long term perspective and planning of water resources and its management. There are nearly a 100 water tanks covering an area of nearly 300 acres of land and they are in a state of degradation. They need to be tended and taken care of first. They will also provide possibilities of pisciculture and floriculture as well as help to recharge the earth. If human greed is not now overtaken by human need, the only option left will be for the earth to open up and devour the destructive beast left on earth – the human being. q |
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