Flamingos face twin dangers of water pollution, wetland burial

The pink guests of Mumbai and MMR are facing twin dangers as the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary (TCFS) are being polluted and their abodes, the wetlands, are being buried or dried up.

The Maharashtra government had recommended a Ramsar Wetland status for the TSFC while Navi Mumbai Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) tagged its area as a Flamingo City as part of the Swachh Bharat drive.

Environment Principal Secretary Manisha Mhaiskar Patankar asked the Member Secretary of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board to check environmentalists’ complaints against heavy pollutants leaking into the creek. Patankar herself confirmed this to NatConnect Foundation which drew her attention to the pollution of Thane Creek.

“The officials have been in a denial mode despite us presenting them with irrefutable data and proof,” Stalin D, director of Vanashakti Foundation said.

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The levels of all parameters such as chemical oxygen demand (2,880 mg/lit), pH, biochemical oxygen demand or BOD (900 mg/lit), total dissolved solids (27366 mg/lit) and colour (36 CU) are much more than permissible limits, he pointed out.

Flamingos fly to other wetlands during high tide when the water level goes beyond their tolerance limit of 15 cm to 20 cm. BNHS has identified six waterbodies – Belpada, Bhendkhal, Panje, NRI, TS Chanakya and Bhandup – as TCFS satellite wetlands which have to be maintained.

But now these wetlands are also under human attack, said NatConnect Foundation Director B N Kumar. Bhendkhal wetland in Uran has been buried totally by NMSEZ despite the High Court appointed wetland grievance redressal committee intervention, Belpada is being converted into a parking lot by JNPA. Panje wetland faces frequent threats as inter-tidal water flow is being blocked despite the NGT order to the authorities to save the place. NRI-TSC wetlands in Nerul too are dried up every now and then, while water pollution at Bhandup is very high.

Migratory birds are ambassadors of the environment, yet their homes are being destroyed despite the fact that BNHS has warned several times that the loss of these wetlands could lead to the migratory birds causing chaos in the air, posing dangers to aircraft, NatConnect said.

“Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was good enough to forward our series of complaints to the environment department, yet there is no action to save the wetlands,” Nandakumar Pawar, head of Shri Ekvira Aai Pratishtan, said.

“We have test reports to show that the pollutants are seven times higher than the acceptable norms," Pawar said and blamed the official neglect that is causing the death of fish.