How did widespread mangrove-chopping go unseen?

This picture has been used for representational purpose

The Versova police have registered two FIRs against seven people allegedly involved in the chopping of mangroves and constructing around 130 huts and temples and dumping debris at Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Nagar at Four Bungalows, Andheri West.

All of them are locals. An activist also informed the Forest Department about the mangrove-chopping and after an investigation, the tehsildar registered the case.

Fighting to save mangroves is a staple and enervating task for green warriors who need to be in a state of constant, high alert when it comes to this activity. Their work, unfortunately, does not stop at that.

Then, there is the entire onerous responsibility of seeing action taken, at times this too is a long and sapping endeavour after which, activists have to ensure that there is no further destruction. It was reassuring to see in this newspaper's report that the police said the accused are going to be arrested soon.

What we need to focus on though is the before and the after. How did these people manage to enter the place and clear away such a mammoth area, destroying enough mangroves to build 130 huts? Even if done during the lockdown, this is a huge landmass. How and why have temples come up in the space? Doesn't construction like this need significant amounts of material and manpower? How did nobody notice it until now? Now that this has been discovered, what is going to happen to these huts and temples? Even if they are demolished, which will take some time, the debris will have to be cleared and carted off.

A bizarre situation has been allowed to arise either through genuine ignorance or wilful negligence. Now, getting rid of this is immensely tricky, and may well prove hugely difficult, if not impossible.