Maharashtra govt gives forest status to Dharavi mangroves

The Maharashtra government has decided to protect as reserve forest another 25 hectares of mangroves at Dharavi, considered to be Asia’s largest slum in Mumbai, even as environmentalists have been raising their voice against destruction of mangroves and land grab.

A good beginning has been made now in accordance with the Bombay High Court order to protect the mangroves, but the government still has miles to go, NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar said in a statement.

The State Forest department has declared as protected forest about 53% of the 32,000-hectare mangroves.

About 16,000 hectares of mangroves has been categorised as private property which leaves about 3,000 hectares under government control that need to be declared as forest.

NatConnect has appealed to the government to take under its control even the so-called privately owned mangroves since the sea forest is natural heritage and must be protected to save the coastal areas from tidal water attacks. Mangroves also serve as rainforests, carbon sinks, and breeding grounds for a variety of aquatic life other than hoisting hundreds of species of birds, butterflies, reptiles and animals. For instance, the Mangrove Society of India has reported that the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet train project will directly impact 177 species of resident and migratory birds, otters, turtles, fish, crabs, oysters, wild boar, monkeys, flying fox, fishing cats, civets, mongoose and wild cats.

“Though there have been reports of increase in the density of mangroves, the actual cover in terms of area has been under tremendous pressure due to large scale destruction, particularly in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR),” said Kumar.

Meanwhile, activists Naresh Chandra Singh and Jyoti Nadkarni have brought the government’s attention to the burial of mangroves and landfill on them at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai. The mangroves, under the control of the city planner City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) are yet to be transferred to the Forest Department for conservation, they said.

State Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray last week instructed CIDCO, country's largest container port JNPT and government officials to expedite the transfer of mangroves to the Forest Department for protection and conservation. CIDCO has handed over just 219 hectares out of hundreds of hectares under its control and the delay is only encouraging land grabbers to destroy the sea forests, Uran-based traditional fishing community forum member Dilip Koli said.