CIDCO road endangers flamingoes at DPS lake in Navi Mumbai

The DPS Flamingo Lake at Nerul in Navi Mumbai faces twin dangers due to a disputed road along the wetland and the blockage of intertidal waterNavi Mumbaibased environmentalist B N Kumar from the NatConnect Foundation told midday that a team from the state government has found that the 600metre road between the 30 acre of mangroves and the wetland will lead to environmental destructionIt may be noted that NatConnect has earlier complained to the Centre as well as the state that the road built by the CIDCO violates the CRZ norms which prohibit any construction within the 50metre radius of mangrovesThe Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change of India MOEFCC has asked the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority MCZMA to investigate the issue On December 3 a team from the Thane collectorrsquos office visited the lake area and recorded its panchnama report which called for scrapping the road as it could lead to mangrove destruction and encroachment of the lakeActivists had not opposed the road that CIDCO said was meant for developing the Nerul jetty but now the designs of CIDCO are surfacing said Sandeep Sareen of the Navi Mumbai Environmental Preservation Society NMEPS ldquoWe never thought that the road would turn out to be a bane for the flamingo lakerdquo he addedThe road itself has blocked the free flow of intertidal water to the lake from an adjoining nullah that connects to the Thane Creek Kumar saidldquoThe probe teamrsquos report therefore vindicates our concernsrdquo he said Even the water channels from under the road which were cleared following the instructions from Airoli MLA Ganesh Naik in May were choked all over again added KumarldquoThe stagnant water in the lake with moss and muck has rendered it unfriendly for the flamingosrdquo Kumar said as he pointed out that the migratory bird season has set in and pink birds will start arriving at the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary TCFSThe birds normally fly into wetlands such as DPS Flamingo Lake NRI and T S Chanakya wetlands during the high tide in the creekldquoThis sabotage is highly disturbing even as the state government has appointed a highlevel committee to suggest ways to save the lake which is visited by flamingos in large numbersrdquo he saidIn the wake of a spate of flamingo deaths at the DPS Lake the then forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had in July appointed a committeeThe matter is under review at the National Green Tribunal NGT which has taken a suo motu notice of media reports NatConnect Foundation has filed an intervention application with the NGT raising its concernsPointing out that CIDCOrsquos development plan earmarked the DPS Flamingo Lake for ldquofuture developmentrdquo Kumar appealed to the government to reject CIDCOrsquos plans and save the flamingo destination as part of the cityrsquos biodiversity ldquoIt is also important to conserve the cityrsquos wetlands as they act as a natural antiflood mechanism support the fishing community and maintain the ecological balancerdquo he added