CIC finds hills dug up in Mumbai; notices issued to Environment Ministry

NEW DELHI: In a first, apparent environmental degradation in Mumbai has been treated as a complaint by the Central Information Commission which has taken suo-moto notice and issued notice to the Environment Ministry to explain if the digging of hills in the city was permitted by it.

The smoke over Mumbai sky and digging of hills in the city, observed by Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu, while on a visit to Mumbai, was treated by him as a complaint under the RTI Act making it a first such case, expanding the boundaries of the transparency law.

Sridhar, who was in Mumbai to address officials and scientists of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, noticed some smoke over the hills in Mumbai near Airport, on February 27, 2015 while on Air India Flight.

While travelling further towards Department of Atomic Energy, Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, he noticed smoke spread over the sky which was also witnessed by the staff at BARC.

The Commissioner also noticed that around a dozen hills were being dug by big earth movers with almost half of the hills were found cut.

"The Commission has taken notice of this happening and considers this as complaint.

The Commission directs the Ministry of Environment and Forests to inform the people through the Commission about the causes, impact and harmful effects on Mumbai people, any study or action taken, if any, or if contemplated on this situation, by the authority, and to find out from the concerned authorities, whether such destruction of hills was permitted or not," Sridhar said in the order.