Bombay Environmental Action Group

The Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG) is an environmental NGO founded in 1979 by a group of professionals, artists, nature enthusiasts and entrepreneurs in Mumbai who were concerned about the impact of industrial and residential development on the environment and on local populations. In 1974, a group of farmers and fishermen in Alibag approached civil right activists living in the area for help. They had heard that their lands were going to be forcibly acquired by the government for a chemical factory. The activists were able to confirm from official sources that the government was in fact planning to acquire land between Alibag town and Mandwa village to build a large petrochemical complex, However, no more information was available to the activists or to the local population.