Mumbai, May 16 -- Observing that the upgradation of the Revas-Reddi Coastal Highway was a project of "public importance" aimed at improving road connectivity between Maharashtra and Goa, the Bombay High Court recently permitted the diversion of 0.4479 hectares of mangroves and the felling of 75 mangroves. The court, however, asked the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), the project proponent, to submit an affidavit in four weeks stating that turtle nesting sites along the project route would be protected and no construction activity would be carried out during the turtle nesting season from October to March. The court was hearing a petition filed by the MSRDC seeking the court's nod to divert and fell the mangroves. The petition, filed earlier this year, sought the court's permission to fell the mangroves, in compliance with a High Court ruling of 2018 in a public interest litigation filed by the Bombay Environment Action Group (BEAG). The 2018 decision of the High Court said that the state could not destroy mangroves for private or commercial purposes unless the court found the move to be in public interest. The upgraded Revas-Reddi Coastal Highway, part of Maharashtra State Highway 4 (MSH4), will connect Revas in Raigad district with Reddi in Sindhudurg district. According to the MSRDC, the highway will "ensure easing of the congestion and improving the connectivity between Maharashtra border to Goa border along the coast line which would not only promote smooth commute, but would also boost tourism". The matter before the court pertained to the second of four packages involved in upgradation of the highway, stretching from Bankot to Jaigad jetty, both in Ratnagiri district. The project, which entails construction of a two-lane bridge across the Jaigad creek, is of "grave importance", the MSRDC told the court. The union ministry of environment, forest and climate change had granted in-principle clearance for diversion and felling of mangroves for the project on November 25, 2025, the MSRDC said. The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) contended that the project should be subjected to conditions as its alignment passed through the mangrove and buffer area, and a turtle breeding site at Dabhol. While permitting the diversion and felling of mangroves, the court, however, asked the MSRDC to file an affidavit stating that it would not carry out construction during the turtle breeding season from October to March, erect noise barriers between the turtle nesting site and the construction, use no lights near the nesting sites, local fishing activities would not be hampered, there would be no obstruction of creek flow, no disposal of waste in the coastal area, and protection of coastal ecology and biodiversity. The state government informed the court that its mangrove cell had identified 1.50 hectares of land in Raigad for compensatory plantation of 10 times the mangroves cut, which would be 750 in this case. The BEAG, however, objected to the piecemeal approval that the MSRDC had sought. Its lawyers said that the project was 498-km long, but in the application to the MCZMA, the land was shown to be 115.22 km. To ascertain the overall impact of the project on the environment, it was necessary to seek approvals "at one go" so that the actual damage to the environment can be assessed, the BEAG said. However, in the order dated May 8, justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande said, "...though we find that the piecemeal approval may not be an ideal situation, but for a huge project involving a stretch of about 500 km, we see no other option." The court said that it found "no malafide approach" in the permissions granted by the forest department and the 10-fold compensatory mangrove plantation in Raigad recommended by the mangrove cell. "We, therefore, do not see a single reason why we should withhold our approval, to the project which is of public importance," the judges said....