A lot has been written and debated on merits of the eastern water front project study and to present it in a visual form was most challenging task for me.   The opportunity came in the form of a photography work shop on Mumbai’s eastern water front, conducted by the renowned German photographer Kai-Olaf Hesse under aegis of Goethe Institute.  

Study of Mumbai‘s eastern waterfront was carried out by Design cell of the Kamala Raheja Vidyandhi institute of Architecture ( KRVIA) and Design Research Institute ( UDRI) in Mumbai.   The objective of the study, in a nutshell, is regeneration of the Port and Dock lands of the Island city of Mumbai.  Mumbai port trust owns a huge chunk of land spread over 1800 acres compromising of containers docks, warehouses, and ship-repairing yards.  The plan is to develop these vast stretches of underutilized land harbouring the eastern water front which would showcase Mumbai into a world class city.

While I was exploring eastern water front with my camera few questions popped up in my mind.  If at all the eastern water front developments actually takes place then what would be its impact on the ecological front and displacement of man power and their livelihood. On the fringes of the water front from New Mumbai to Sewri we have vast stretch of areas under mangroves.   At no cost can we afford to destroy these mangroves which act as a buffer against the onslaught of tidal waves and tsunami in future.  It also acts as huge water holding land that protects the city from flooding, besides serving as greenery spots and helping reduce air pollution.

  Then we have the fishing villages and the salt pan owners located on the fringes of water front in Trombay, New Mumbai and Sewri,  whose livelihood comes from the sea, so what impact the development would have on these poor people.   We have heavy industries like Nuclear Power, fertilizers, Oil refineries spread over areas from Trombay to Sewri, not to talk about huge restricted area that come under the Navy down south, it would be a monumental task relocating them.

  Further south we have containers yards, warehouses, and docks belonging to the Mumbai Port trust.  Then we have number of small scale units and scarp dealers which generate huge employment opportunity to the locals staying around Darukhana, Mazgaon and other areas. The study must include a plan to rehabilitate the locals.  I also came across lot of land encroachment with rows of slums lining the streets of Mazgaon and other places.  I am not against development but its ecological impact and displacement of locals must be borne in mind.   

During this one week of photography workshop, German photographer Mr. Kai-Olaf Hesse gave us some wonderful insight in the working mind of the photographers, making us look at critical aspects of our work in terms of artistic form and photo-journalism.   I must confess I was extremely impressed by the commitment shown by all the photographers shooting for long hours over three days on the eastern water front braving the torrential rains.  Despite the various problems and hurdles faced by the photographers shooting in restricted areas where photography is prohibited, the photographers came out with fairly good collections of photos. The top class facility provided by the Goethe Institute for the work shop for which we are grateful to the director Dr Marla Stukenberg and its stuff members. And above all the warmth and bonhomie atmosphere prevalent among the photographers during one week of work shop made us feel like one large family.  I think one week of photography work shop was too short a duration to cover the entire stretch of 30 km of Eastern shoreline and for tackling such vital subjects as Eastern water front, perhaps I hope we will have more of such work shop in near future.

                                                                                                                                  Rajen Nair