Mumbai: Land mafia setting Aarey vegetation on fire, allege locals; beg them to stop

The fires were seen near New Zealand hostel, Aarey BMC school, Unit 15 and the car depot in the vicinity of Tapashwar temple, said locals

As the vegetation inside the Aarey Milk Colony gets drier ahead of summer months, the land mafia has begun setting afire bushes and shrubs in the ecologically important area. In the past three days, there have been at least four to five fires inside Aarey.

Antisocial elements use fire to clear land to allow slums to expand inside Aarey. Locals and activists say fires in February are a yearly phenomenon and they pose a huge threat to Aarey's rich biodiversity.

Spread over 16 square kilometres, Aarey sits adjacent to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. A study by independent researcher Rajesh Sanap and another researcher has shown that it has 76 species of birds, 86 types of butterflies, 13 species of amphibians, 38 types of reptiles, 19 varieties of spiders and 34 types of wildflowers. It also has mammals, including leopards, spotted deer, rusty spotted cats, jungle cat, sambar deer and barking deer.
The latest fires have been reported from areas near the New Zealand hostel, Aarey BMC school, Unit number 15 and the car depot side close to Tapashwar temple, said locals.

Green activist Zoru Bhathena said several land parcels around Aarey and the national park are no-development zones and these fires are an attempt to prevent trees from growing there. "It's high time authorities took strict action against those who keep these plots ‘barren' with fires year after year."

Environmentalist Stalin D, who is also a member of Aarey Conservation Group, was concerned that the government had failed to take preventive steps despite the fires being a regular occurrence. "Hardly any miscreant gets caught. The forest areas do not have water lines that can be used in an emergency. Forests have stopped regenerating due to saplings getting burnt in these fires. The gravity of the situation is not understood by the government."

The Aarey Colony is priceless and unscrupulous elements are trying to grab it, said nature Lover Sushant Bali. "If the government truly wishes to conserve this beautiful forest of Mumbai, they have to declare the whole of Aarey [3000+ acres] a protected forest with a strong vigil system of forest guards, CCTVs and tall boundary walls. This should be the main objective of their Majhi Vasundhara program of 2021."

Aarey CEO Nathu Rathod remained unavailable for comment.

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Types of bird species found in Aarey Colony