Five years after it was conceptualised and more than two years after contractors were appointed, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC’s) ambitious project to rejuvenate Poisar River received environment clearance on Tuesday. “Clearances have come through from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Mangrove Cell, and Coastal Zone Management Authority. The work on the construction of the STPs [sewage treatment plants] will be initiated directly since the contractor is already being appointed. However, there might also be a cost escalation owing to a change in market forces over the past two years,” a civic official said. The Poisar River, which was once a freshwater urban stream, originates from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and falls into the Marve Creek traversing Mumbai’s western suburbs. However, with the change in demography over the past 10 years, this river became polluted, mainly due to the discharge of residential and industrial sewage directly into the river water. As a result, in 2019, civic authorities floated the proposal of rejuvenating the river by setting up 10 mini STPs …