Act on wetland destruction in 15 days, Centre tells Maharashtra

Upset with inaction by state authorities the Union Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change MoEFCC has given a 15day deadline to the Maharashtra Environment Department to act on the host of complaints from green groups against destruction of wetlands in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region MMRTaking note of the lack of response from the department and the wetland authority despite five emails from the Centre Dr E Arockia Lenin director and Scientist C MoEFCC has sent a fresh message to State Environment Principal Secretary Manisha PatankarMhaiskar calling for timebound action and a report on the sameDr Lenin in his letter said that the MoEFCC has been receiving grievances on pollution and construction activities on wetlands ldquohowever no response has been received by this ministry from the authorities concerned till daterdquo it saidIt may be noted that NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar who has been periodically complaining received a copy of the letter to the state officials along with a 40page annexure of the complaints and mailsAlso read Mumbai green activists say wetlands put on back burnerNavi Mumbai airport issueKumar has repeatedly pointed out to the MoEFCC that the Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited NMIAL has allegedly obtained the Environmental Clearance based on a false claim that CIDCO was taking adequate steps to protect the wetlands as suggested by the Bombay Natural History Society BNHS ldquoFar from protecting the wetlands CIDCO has been ensuring that the water bodies are buried by ignoring even the high courtappointed committeersquos directivesrdquo he said in a press releaseKumar also claimed that BNHS has repeatedly said in its studies that the wetlands at Belpada Bhendkhal Panje NRI TS Chanakya and DPS Lake must be protected as thousands of migratory birds land hereThe Environment Impact Assessment submitted by NMIAL to MOEFCC states ldquoMaintaining the current state of this landscape especially wetlands and Protected Areas is essential for the air safety of the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport NMIA Any changes in the current state of these areas will result in more erratic movement of the birds in the landscape between feeding and roosting sites which may jeopardise the air safety of NMIArdquo Kumar in the press release also stated that the authority does not seem to be serious about bird hit threats to flights despite repeated complaintsOther complaintsldquoThe intertidal water flow to Panje wetland is being intermittently blocked in gross violation of the National Green Tribunalrsquos order CIDCO illegally leased out the 289hectare wetland to NMSEZ which continues to occupy the areardquo said Nandakumar Pawar head of Shri Ekvira Aai PratishthanSimilarly Savarkhar wetland was buried by Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority JNPA though the water body figures on the Uran tehsildarrsquos list of wetlands JNPA is also doing landfill on Belpada wetland to create a parking lot he saidKhargharbased activists Nareshchandra Singh Jyoti Nadkarni and Seema Tonk have drawn the MoEFCCrsquos attention to debris dumping on long stretches of wetlands in the node and pointed out cases of large scale organised shrimp farming by blocking the tidal water flowAs regards the NRI wetlands Sunil Agrawal of Save Navi Mumbai Environment has raised several complaints against the construction permitted by CIDCO on CRZ and salt pan area on the edge of the water body He also pointed at debris and material dumping close to the wetland5No emails by the Centre that were ignored by the state