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MANGROVE’S GRAVEYARD
The HC Asked The Government To Protect Mangroves In 2005. Mumbai Has Lost A Fifth Of Its Mangrove Cover Since Then ......Viju B | TNN
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court ordered the state government in 2005 to protect mangroves along the state’s coastline and set out several guidelines that it could follow. Three years later, there is unmistakable evidence of hundreds of acres of mangroves being destroyed in both the eastern and western suburbs and Thane.
Activists say Mumbai and its surrounding areas may have lost as much as a fifth of the mangrove cover it had when the high court gave the save-mangrove order.
Experts say the uniform modus operandi, employed by unscrupulous slumlords and developers across the city when they move in for the kill, is disconcerting. Tin barricades are put up around the area and debris is dumped inside the barricades so that the mangroves are choked slowly behind a wall. A temporary shed initially comes up on the mangroves, which are dying a slow death, and gradually the number of these sheds/slums increases. They are fenced off in a few years and the “land’’ is then “bought’’ by developers from the slumlords.
TOI checked out few of these sites across Mumbai and found out that the largest damage had been wreaked on the mangroves bordering three of Mumbai’s biggest creeks in Gorai, Malad and Thane.
Mumbai, according to official figures, has around 60 square kilometres of mangroves. They act as a buffer against flooding during the monsoon and against tidal waves during tsunamis, absorb the sewage dumped into the sea and play host to a variety of birds and marine life. The mangroves also lower the city’s temperature and act as a permanent cooling system.
But, the way things are moving, these natural assets may be a thing of the past soon. West of Borivli’s I C Colony, close to Linking Road, at least 50 acres of mangroves have been destroyed in one year. Slums have come up and residents of these slums have barricaded off plots with tin walls after dumping debris on mangroves. Mangroves are being destroyed systematically in the Mumbra-Diva belt and the “land’’ is making way for industrial units, godowns and low-cost housing units. “The court order disallows any development within 50 metres of the coastline. But this is being violated blatantly in many areas,’’ Mangrove Society of India (Mumbai Chapter) Joint secretary Rishi Agarwal said. “There will not be any mangrove left on the coastline in a decade,’’ Bombay Environmental Action Group’s Debi Goenka said. The state inaction amounted to a contempt of court orders, he added.
Goregaon Bangur Nagar activist Avisha Kulkarni said: “We are asked to file complaint with the police but officials never take any action.’
Forest officials admitted there was no co-ordination between revenue and forest departments on complaints filed. “A separate cell should be formed for the protection of mangroves but the forest department is short of staff and cannot look after even forest land,’’ a forest official said.
THE GREEN ZONE Mangrove cover in Maharashtra: 226 square kilometres Mangrove cover in and around Mumbai: 60 square kilometres ACT NOW You can lodge a complaint if you see mangroves being destroyed File a complaint with the divisional commissioner of the Konkan region. The complaint will be forwarded to the tehsildar, who has to visit the site and prepare a report. The divisional commissioner has been told by the Bombay High Court to give a monthly report on the status of mangroves at risk. You can also lodge a complaint with the zonal deputy commissioner of police. THE LAW | The court ordered the government to protect fast-depleting mangrove cover in coastal areas after the BEAG filed a PIL WHAT THE HC SAID The order banned the dumping of debris in mangrove areas and forbade “any authority’’ from granting permission for developing these areas. WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE GROUND Rampant dumping of debris in the mangrove belts of Borivli, Malad, Mumbra-Diva and Sewri goes on unchecked. WHAT THE HC SAID The court said no applicatiion for development in mangrove areas should be entertained “regardless of the nature of ownership’’ of the land; the order also banned construction within 50 metres of mangroves. WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE GROUND The second step after dumping debris in mangrove areas is usually development of the “land’’; and construction within 50 metres of mangroves is visible near almost every big mangrove belt. WHAT THE HC SAID The division bench asked the state government to notify state-owned mangroves as “protected forests’’ and other mangroves as “forests’’. WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE GROUND Some mangrove areas have been notified in accordance with the Bombay High Court’s directive but large swathes of mangroves have not yet been brought under the purview of this notification; officials say notifying all mangrove-coevered areas as forests may be difficult as many of these spots have been earmarked for various public projects. WHAT THE HC SAID The court also asked the state government to clear debris from mangrove land and prosecute people abusing the mangrovecovered areas in any way. WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE GROUND No debris has been cleared from many areas, say activists. WHAT THE HC SAID The state government must replant trees in mangrove belts where the plants now cover less than 40 per cent of the total area. WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE GROUND Nothing of the sort has happened, say environmentalists. STARING AT DEATH: Oil spills now cover much of the Sewri Mangrove Park and have resulted in the plants dying a gradual death (above). Mangroves have been systematically destroyed in Borivli’s Kandarpara (bottom) and Mumbra (left); large swathes of land have been taken over by slums and godowns at both places
Mumbai’s only mangrove park chokes on oil ....Mansi Choksi | TNN
Mumbai: Ten-year-old Vinay skips across scattered stones with practised ease as he leads a group of three friends through the Sewri Mangrove Park. They want a glimpse of the flamingoes which, Vinay says, have stopped coming close to the mangroves.
One nine-year-old in the group, Samir, asks Vinay where an unidentifiable stench is coming from. Vinay, who lives in the neighbourhood, is now as familiar with the smell as he is with the stones. He explains promptly that it’s oil which has seeped into the soil; he also adds that the mangrove trees have started fading. Inspecting a mangrove tree, he points out that most of the leaves have yellowed, shrivelled up and some trees have died. He does not forget to mention that the place was lush and full of trees only a few years ago. The secluded 15-acre saline habitat in the mudflats between Sewri and Trombay was declared a protected area by the Bombay Port Trust in January 1996. The agency undertook to protect this area from any new construction or dredging activity and said it would work to check air and water pollution by reinforcing effluent-control measures. A dozen years later, the mangrove park — and the mangroves — are dying because of recurrent oil spills that have corroded not only the trees and clogged their roots but have also affected the soil. The damage caused by the oil in the ground is irreversible because it persists in the sediment, say experts. The degradation of the quality of plant life and the water, in turn, adversely affects the insects and animals that thrive on it. Residents of the area, like Niladhar Patil, say most of the oil comes from the vessels and ships that are cleaned near the jetty. Mangrove habitats, which form the interface between land and sea, are believed to be one of the main places where spilled oil and associated impacts converge. Mangrove forests are also thought to be the most sensitive to oil spills.
The problem at the Sewri Mangrove Park is aggravated by the garbage that is mindlessly dumped in the area. Vagrants have made their way into the park, there are fishing nets lying around and the park is used to dump garbage, including industrial waste. There is no gate to the park, there is no security and there is no one to oversee whether it is being abused; and, about half a kilometre into the park, there is a tile stating that the area belongs to the Bombay Port Trust. But the park seems to have ceased to be on the agency’s radar. Port trust chief vigilance officer Arti Kant said she did not know anything about the park and suggested TOI speak to MbPT secretary Mohana Chandran. TOI tried to speak to him but he did not respond to several calls or an SMS. WORD NOT KEPT: A plaque, marking the inauguration of the park, is still there in Sewri
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| Also see : Environment, Environment : News Articles, Land : News Articles |
