22-05-2025
PCMC kicks off Kasardi river rejuvenation work
Navi Mumbai: With the Raigad collector's approval to transfer over Rs 17.4 crore to the Panvel City Municipal Corporation (PCMC), the civic body has started the process for the restoration and rejuvenation of Kasardi river, which passes through Taloja MIDC.
PCMC additional municipal commissioner Ganesh Shete and his team, along with representatives from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, irrigation department, PWD and MIDC, recently inspected the most polluted stretch of the river.
After the polluted river drew the attention of international media, a case was filed in the National Green Tribunal, which imposed a collective Rs 15 crore penalty on the Common Effluent Treatment Plant and industries in Taloja MIDC.
The matter is sub-judice and was challenged in Supreme Court.
During the May 14 inspection, Shete was informed that tankers were allegedly releasing chemical effluent at Ganesh Ghat at Navde village, off the Mumbai-Pune highway and Tondare village thus increasing the river pollution. MPCB was asked to take action against such companies. He also asked the CETP and MIDC to help process the chemical effluents already released into the river.
ivic officials have been asked to screen the companies or industrial units indulged in releasing chemical effluents to the river stretch.
Former corporator Haresh Keni of BJP said, "Ganesh Ghat beautification and a solid waste management project on the opposite side of the ghat remain a concern. Surprisingly, these lie in the village of Arvind Mhatre, the complainant in the NGT case. The polluted river stretches into the village side."
PCMC is also focusing on finalising the flood level and river's lowest water level during the summer.
