Mahim Nature Park not included in Dharavi redevelopment project

In what comes as a relief to petitioners, the Maharashtra government has reiterated that the Mahim Nature Park will not be included in the Dharavi Redevelopment Project.

A division bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Pande on Monday recorded the clarification from the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA).

The court has sought the clarification after NGO Vanashakti headed by Stalin Dayanand and environmental activist Zoru Bhathena filed a PIL on the issue.

“So long as the Development Plan shows it as a Nature Park, no other activity can be carried out," the court observed.

Dharavi is the biggest slum cluster of Asia, and the redevelopment project would be executed by Adani Realty, a company of the Adani Group.

It may be mentioned, Stalin and Bhathena were in the forefront of the Save Aarey Forest campaign.

The PIL feared that the Mahim Nature Park (or Maharashtra Nature Park Society) which has been protected as a forest since 1991, may be included in the Dharavi redevelopment project. The petitioners had expressed apprehension pointing out that the October 2022 tender grants the right to acquire “excluded areas” (including MNP) for the project.

Sandwiched between the Sion and Matunga stations of Central Railway and Mahim and Bandra stations on the Western Railway, the Dharavi locality is a sort of business-cum-residential-cum-warehouse area, where nearly seven to 10 lakh people stay and work, in an area of 2.1 sq km – making it the biggest slum locality of Asia. The famous Mithi river that empties into the Arabian Sea from the Mahim creek passes by the Dharavi area.

The Mahim Nature Park is on one side of the Dharavi.

It comprises a thick wooded area along the Mithi river and has an education centre for urban inhabitants, particularly school and college children who promote ecology and nature conservation.

The 37-acre land was once one of Mumbai’s biggest dumping grounds but now it is a piece of green lung along Dharavi - and rich flora and fauna.