NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday restrained authorities from laying concrete paver blocks in the Matheran Eco-sensitive Zone (ESZ), and called for a report from a monitoring committee — set up under the aegis of the Union ministry of environment & forests, on the feasibility of the e-rickshaw project in the hill station.
The green bench, comprising justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath, directed the monitoring committee to submit a detailed report on the e-rickshaws pilot project and the laying of paver blocks within a period of eight weeks. “Till further orders, there shall be a complete stay of any further laying of paver blocks in Matheran,” ordered the bench.
The directive was issued on a plea moved by three representative association of the horsemen in Matheran who sought modification of the court order on May 12 when the bench permitted the Maharashtra government to introduce eco-friendly e-rickshaw in the Matheran ESZ on an experimental basis to check its feasibility to replace the hand-pulled rickshaws plying in the area.
Representing the applicants, senior counsel Shyam Divan submitted that the May order by the bench failed to take into account the historical perspective and the unique place that Matheran occupies. Briefed by a team of M/s Karanjawala & Co. Advocates, Divan added that as the only pedestrian hill station in Asia, the absence of any motor vehicles and the use of horses, toy train etc., to commute and reach various sightseeing locations spread across the hill stations has been the essence of the charm of the hill town, and the top court ought to protect this ethos.
Divan lamented that the innate ethos of Matheran is at the risk of being lost by the introduction of the e-rickshaws, whereby, the said cheaper mode of transportation will effectively result in the peace of the hill town being disrupted by the constant rumble of the said motorized vehicles. He submitted that the pilot project is essentially resulting in creeping motorization of Matheran.
He pointed out that in order to facilitate the plying of e-rickshaws in the Matheran ESZ, the municipal authorities have taken active steps to pave the roads with paver blocks thereby making extensive and permanent changes to the ecology of the hill station. Divan argued that such widespread construction activities in the Matheran ESZ under the garb of the pilot project have rendered nugatory and set to naught all the steps taken over the years to protect its ecology and environment.
Advocate K Parameshwar, who assists the green bench as amicus curiae, countered Divan, arguing that the lack of transportation in Matheran has caused great difficulty to the people living there. He submitted that whether it was the transportation of essential commodities such as vegetables or LPG cylinders, or the commute of school children, reliance on non-motorized means of transport was evidence of a colonial mindset.
Parmeshwar added that the age-old practice of using hand pulled rickshaws ought to be deprecated, and it was this means of transport that was sought to be replaced with eco-friendly e-rickshaws.