IndiaThese buildings, meant for rehabilitating peopleaffected by the BMC's several development projects, have beendeclared uninhabitable by the high court and the NationalGreen Tribunal owing to the large-scale pollution in the area.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and JusticeAmjad Sayed restrained the civic body from using the premisesfor quarantine facilities without its nod after the BMC toldthe HC that it had decided that three vacant buildings at theEversmile Complex, the Mahul Project Affected Persons' Colony,will be used as quarantine centres only as a "last resort".
The civic body submitted in an affidavit filed in thehigh court that as per its estimates, the number of COVID-19positive cases in the M West ward, where Mahul is located,would rise to around 2,946 by May 30.
And since there already existed a shortage ofdesignated quarantine centres, it had decided that if thosefrom the ward, who need to be admitted to quarantine centrescould not be accommodated anywhere else in the M-West ward,they would be taken to Mahul, the BMC submitted.
The bench was hearing a public interest litigationfiled by Sharda Tevar, the mother of an undertrial at ArthurRoad prison, and by an NGO Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan.
The petitioners, through advocate Ronita Bector,submitted that as per news reports, the state authorities wascontemplating using some buildings in Mahul as quarantinefacilities.
However, all buildings in the said area, built forrehabilitating those whose homes were affected due to theBMC's various development projects, have been considereduninhabitable by the Bombay HC and the NGT previously.
According to the petition, Mahul is a heavilyindustrialised belt and home to several major industrialunits, including refineries of Hindustan Petroleum CorporationLimited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, RashtriyaChemicals and Fertilisers, and Bhabha Atomic Research Centreas well as private industrial units.
The high court on September 23, 2019 stopped projectaffected persons from being rehabilitated in these buildings.
"The proposed facility at Mahul would be utilised onlyas a last resort in the event that the number of cases risesand the number of high and low risk contacts persons thatrequire to be quarantined cannot be kept on the otherquarantine facilities made available in the vicinity," BMCsaid in its reply.
However, the court said that said before the stategovernment or BMC takes a decision to shift people to Mahul,they will be required to take the court's permission and willalso have to submit all relevant data, advocate Bector said. AYANP NP