JOIN USMaharashtra notifies 1,500 hectare of mangroves as protected forests
The Maharashtra Government has declared 1,575 hectares of mangroves in Raigad, Sindhudurg, suburban Mumbai and Thane districts as reserved forests.
The government order (GO), signed by Arvind Apte, Chief Conservator of Forests, on January 11, however, does not cover the mangrove zones of Uran and other parts of Navi Mumbai where environmentalists have been waging a prolonged battle to save the official state trees.
The government as well as the Bombay High Court-appointed mangrove protection and conservation committee long ago directed district collectors and CIDCO to handover the unreserved mangrove forests under their jurisdiction to the Forest Department.
The High Court panel Chairman Annasaheb Misal has also called for speeding up the transfer process following complaints against the delay and the resultant destruction of mangroves.
“Yet, the mangrove red-tapism is shocking to say the least,” said B N Kumar, director of NatConnect Foundation. Amid this official lethargy, he said, the destruction of mangroves has assumed serious proportions in Uran in the execution of projects by NHAI and JNPT despite the state wildlife board declaring Sonneratia Alba, a mangrove tree, as the state tree.
“CIDCO officials told us that the files regarding mangrove zone measurement are lying with the planning department even as the burial of mangroves is in progress at a rapid pace with the expansion of NH348 and construction by JNPT,” Kumar said in a press statement.
Truckloads of debris and earth are being dumped on mangroves at Dhutum, said Nandakumar Pawar of Shri Ekvira Aai Pratishtan.
“The reckless construction of roads straight on mangroves and marshy lands resulted in the highway developing huge cracks which is a big lesson for the project proponents, said Kumar. NatConnect has already informed Union Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari not to ignore the environment in his hurry to meet road construction targets.
Kharghar-based activist Naresh Chandra Singh said he lodged scores of complaints against the destruction of mangrove in the node and all official agencies have turned a blind eye. Recently, Mangrove Committee member Stalin D took stock of the situation and said he would raise the “serious issue”.
As per the latest GO, the protected forest areas under Section 20 of the Indian Forests Act include those in Sawantwadi, Vengurla, Kudal, Malvan and Devgad talukas of District Sindhudurg and Sriwardhan of Raigad, Kandivali, Dahisar, Eksar, Gorai, Varsova, Bandra and Juhu of Mumbai suburban, apart from 32 villages in Bhiwandi.
In a separate GO, the government proposed to declare, under section-4 of the Forests Act, 1,387.3 hectares of mangrove zones as protected forests across 49 villages in Thane district across villages Chendani, Mumbra, Mhatradi, Sonkar, Diva, Kalshet, Balkum, Kalwa, Parsik, Ghudbunder, Uttan, Bhayandar, and Morava.
Environmentalist groups have complained against mangrove destruction at Bhayandar and Uttan recently.