JNPT has no record of mangroves in port area, reveals RTI

The country's largest container port Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) that has come up on the Uran coast across Mumbai harbour does not have any record of mangroves in its area.

This shocking revelation has come through a response to an application under the RTI filed by environment NGO NatConnect Foundation.

The JNPT response, signed by R A Mhatre, Deputy Manager (PPD) and Public Information Officer, said, “Details are not available”.

In a related development, the State Environment Department asked the Raigad District Coastal Zone Monitoring (DCZMC) to probe into the allegation of massive mangrove destruction by JNPT SEZ in the Uran area in the absence of CRZ clearance, while the Mangrove Cell reminded the port management that it has to transfer mangroves under it to the Forest Department.

“We sought the information since JNPT has been delaying the transfer of mangroves to the Forest Department despite the Bombay High Court order and the State government notifying all agencies to transfer mangroves for conserving them as reserved forests,” said B N Kumar, director of NatConnect Foundation.

Kumar has filed his First Appeal under RTI against “misleading and wrong information”.

The State Mangrove Cell has also reminded JNPT and CIDCO to initiate the process of transferring the sea forests under their respective jurisdiction, Virendra Tiwari, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, confirmed to NatConnect.

The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) has already confirmed in response to an RTI application by NGO NatConnect Foundation that JNPT SEZ does not have CRZ clearance for implementing the project.

The Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) has given the environment clearance for the multi-product SEZ, but it does not mention a word about mangroves and wetlands, NatConnect pointed out.

In view of this, environmentalists have, in a series of emails, drawn the attention of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to the destruction of mangroves and wetlands across Uran by JNPT SEZ. The CM has asked the Environment Department to look into the issues.

“Environment Director Narendra Toke has, in turn, informed us that the complaints have been sent to the Raigad District Collector to be handled by the DCZMC,” Kumar said.

In the wake of the delaying tactics of JNPT and CIDCO, NatConnect has appealed to Thackeray and Environment Minister Aditya Thackeray to intervene and force the handover process before more mangroves are destroyed.

Kumar recalled that JNPT’s website had a chapter ‘Environment Push’ under which the port declared that it has 913.6 hectares of mangroves in its area. But this reference has, of late, been mysteriously deleted. NGO Vanashakti, which filed a contempt petition in the High Court, managed to preserve a screenshot of this statement.

JNPT website however says, “The total land available with JNPT is around 3402 hectares out of this, 1147 hectares area (34 per cent) of the port is under green cover including mangroves.” This information was available as of June 8, Kumar said.