TOI: Navi Mumbai mangrove fate hangs in balance: May 01, 2008 | Mangroves:News Articles

Navi Mumbai: Like Mumbai, the future’s tense for Navi Mumbai mangroves too, especially those in the stretch along the Palm Beach Road. Mangroves along the 9.2-km road, which for years had a lush stretch on one side, are being choked to death with construction material and debris being dumped along the nearby Thane creek.

TOI on Tuesday had reported on how mangroves in the western and eastern suburbs were being systematically destroyed by massive dumping of debris in blatant violation of the 2005 Bombay

high court order. “This method of destroying mangroves seems to be the same in Navi Mumbai too,’’ Rishi Agarwal, joint secretary of Mangrove Society of India (Mumbai chapter), said.

The decimation of mangroves can be witnessed as soon as one enters the Palm Beach Road from Vashi, where a separate path has been created deep in the mangrove forest so that they are barricaded from the tidal water which seeps in from the creek, choking the plants in the process.

“Several bald patches are now visible all along the Palm Beach Road where thick mangroves used to grow till recently,’’ said Dr Anil Bhide, a resident of the Seawoood Complex, situated at the other end of the road.

The Palm Beach Road was constructed by Cidco in February 1998. But a recent ministry of environment and forest (MOEF) report that was submitted to the Bombay high court points out violations with regards to permissions for building the road. “The Cidco had not taken concurrence from the MOEF before constructing the road,’’ the MOEF report said.

“Many parts of Navi Mumbai are below the sea level and mangroves protect the tidal water from entering into the city during the monsoon. But if the mangroves are uprooted here, then the buildings that have come up in Sanpada and Juinagar will be flooded as they are already in the low-lying areas,’’ said Kripal Singh, a resident of Saisagar housing society at Sanpada.

Residents say in the last few years large tracts of mangroves had already been cleared behind the NRI complex, Belapur (TOI had reported this issue two year ago). “The authorities have not bothered to replant the mangroves and the bald patch still remains there,’’ Bhide said.

The Bombay high court directives clearly state at least 40% of the lost mangroves have to be replanted. “Instead of replanting, mangroves are being cleared completely so that in a few years buildings can come up in this prime area,’’ said Bhide.

END OF THE ROAD: A separate path has been created in the forest so that the mangroves are barricaded from the tidal water which seeps in from the creek, choking the plants in the process