Forest department takes control of Mumbai's mangroves

In a major step towards sustainable development and conservation in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (CIDCO) has handed over a huge stretch of mangroves to the Maharashtra Forest Department (MFD).

Currently, in the second phase, 68.4 hectares of the forest were handed over to the MFD in Panvel tehsil of Raigad district. In the first phase, CIDCO had handed over 281.77 hectares of mangrove forest under its jurisdiction to the MFD.

Dr Sanjay Mukherjee, VC MD, CIDCO handed over the forest area to M Adarsh Reddy, Divisional Forest Officer, Mumbai Mangroves Conservation Unit, MFD.

Considering the importance of these mangrove forests, they have been handed over to the Forest Department by CIDCO aiming to protect and conserve mangrove regions as ‘reserved forest.’ “We are committed to the environment and sustainable development. While planning Navi Mumbai, CIDCO had kept about 40 per cent area for green cover, including gardens, playgrounds and non-development Zone (NDZ)."

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Mangroves play an important role in preventing the flooding of residential areas during heavy monsoon and storms and significantly reduce soil erosion in the coastal areas. These mangrove forests are also home to a large number of species of animals, birds, and aquatic life. These are also home to migratory birds.

According to Mukherjee, under the guidance of the Maharashtra government, so far, CIDCO has handed over approximately 2,000 hectares to the forest department, making it the only government organisation and public sector undertaking to hand over such large pieces of mangrove lands.

In order to protect and preserve the mangrove forests in the MMR, the government agencies concerned and authorities were asked to transfer the mangrove forest areas under their jurisdiction to the Mangrove Cell of the MFD. Also, CIDCO has planted mangroves over 370 hectares with the help of Mangrove Cell, which is functional. A mangrove interpretation cell is located in Airoli.

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