TOI:National park needs buffer zone: BEAG: April 11, 2008 | Environment

DECLARED ILLEGAL

National park needs buffer zone: BEAG

Says Residents Of Bldgs On Forest Land Should Ask Govt For Compensation ....Viju B I TNN

Mumbai: Even as the controversy over the buildings on private forest land continues, environmentalist Debi Goenka warns of the impending dangers of not protecting the buffer zone of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. “The 104 sq km national park needs the buffer zone so that it can be protected from further encroachment,’’ said Goenka.

It was Goenka’s Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG) that filed a PIL in 2002 pleading that land acquired under the Maharashtra Private Forest Acquisition Act, 1975, had not been recorded properly by the revenue department. The high court bench, after hearing the PIL, passed an order directing the state to update all records by May 2006.

Last month, a petition filed by the affected residents and developers was also dismissed by the high court after the state filed an affidavit that had the updated records on the forest land.

TOI has carried a series of reports on the forest land issue where buildings housing 1.25 lakh people adjoining Sanjay Gandhi National Park have been declared illegal following the court order.

Goenka said the city cannot afford to see the slow destruction of the national park. “This discrepancy in records came to our light as we realised that many farmhouses in Alibag were on forest land and the revenue department did not have a clue about it.’’

He said nature is the silent sufferer in most man-versus-nature conflicts. “At stake here is the 3,00,000 acres of forest land across Maharashtra which is vulnerable to encroachment and land sharks,’’ Goenka added.

Goenka said there is an urgent need to preserve the national park, which is already facing severe encroachment from all sides. “We need to preserve it so that incidents like the 26/7 floods do not occur again. The two major rivers—Mithi and Dahisar—and two main water sources, the Tulsi and Vihar lakes, originate from the green hills of the park. These rivers take away excess monsoon water into the sea and prevent the city from flooding. We know what happened during the 26/7 floods when the Mithi was clogged at many points,’’ Goenka said.

Regarding the issue of flat owners being duped as they had purchased the flats without being aware that they were on forest land, Goenka said that ignorance of the law was not an excuse to get exemption under the law. “The residents can always ask for compensation from the government. They can also sue the builder for committing fraud. but the fact remains that their apartments have come up on forest land.’’

Goenka said even the state revenue department had committed a blunder in not updating the records and allowing encroachments. “If you do not preserve the forests it will have a very adverse impact on the climate.”

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