NGOs urge CM Uddhav Thackeray to save mangroves in Mumbai region

The NGOs say there has been widespread destruction of mangroves in Thane and Mumbai suburban districts

Large tracts of mangroves are being systematically destroyed across Mumbai and nearby areas due to slow progress in handing over the coastal vegetation to the state's forest department, two environmental groups have alleged.

NatConnect Foundation and Shri Ekvira Aai Pratishthan have written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the high court-appointed Mangrove Protection and Conservation Committee, seeking immediate action to protect Mumbai region's biodiversity.

B N Kumar, director, NatConnect, said that despite the state government asking district collectors, CIDCO and JNPT to transfer mangroves under their control to the forest department, things are not moving in the right direction.

"This mangrove red-tapism is disturbing as the life-saving sea forests are being destroyed by the day," said Kumar. The HC-appointed Committee has also directed that the maintenance of mangroves be done by the forest department.

In and around Kharghar, locals and NatConnect alleged, CIDCO is going slow citing collection of data about mangroves under its jurisdiction. In Uran, the development body says it has handed over such land to either Navi Mumbai SEZ or JNPT.

Nandakumar Pawar, head of Ekvira Pratishthan, has drawn the attention of the government to ‘widespread destruction of mangroves' in Thane and Mumbai suburban districts. Pawar said he found gross violation of CRZ norms in Uttan-Bhayandar where 25 acres of mangroves have been cleared.

Pawar said the Bombay HC has ordered that mangroves cannot be destroyed irrespective of who owns the land. He said complaints to authorities have fallen on deaf ears, adding that only one person had been arrested following an FIR in 2015. At many places, structures have been created to restrict flow of tidal water to wetlands, he said. The construction has hit the locals.