Maharashtra government’s Mangrove Cell will begin an eviction drive of some 1,000 houses from October allegedly encroaching notified mangrove area. Actor Kapil Sharma will be summoned to record his statement on the destruction of mangroves in his bungalow’s backyard. The Mumbai suburban collector has sought a report from the mangrove cell on whether they have been destroyed by bungalows adjoining Kapil’s plot in Versova too. Over 50 adjoining bungalows are under the scanner said official sources from the collector’s office.
The ground-plus-one bungalows, valued around Rs. 4 crore each, stand on MHADA-owned land.
BMC has already written to the collector on complaints from locals about the destruction.
A case was registered against the actor on Sunday and police will send a notice to him after they gather evidence from the spot where the destruction was reported. This is the second FIR against the actor after his tweet row.
“The Cell, being an authorised body, can initiate action of demolishing the encroachment on mangrove area. We are waiting for September to get over as monsoon season is going on. The eviction is not initiated on humanitarian grounds,” Chief Conservator of Forest, N Vasudevan said.
“The Cell had already identified 4,000 such houses which have encroached the area. It had initiated action and these houses and constructions have been razed. We will start the next course of action from October,” he said.
The Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms came into effect in 1991 mandating restoration of the mangroves to pre-1991 status.
“There is 5,469 hectares of mangrove land in Mumbai, which is notified as a reserved forest. Of this, 2-3 per cent is vulnerable to encroachments,” said Vasudevan.
“This is the same area where encroachments have taken place. A Rs. 20 crore project of fencing the same vulnerable area, along with CCTV and satellite-based monitoring has been decided by the Cell,” Vasudevan, who heads the Mangrove Cell, said.
However, there have been incidents of violations and the Bombay High Court in 2005 had issued directives for avoiding further violation of Environment Protection Act, 1986, the official said.
Using Global Positioning System (GPS), officials of the Mangrove Cell surveyed a stretch of more than 400 metres of mangroves in Andheri West and found a majority of the bungalows had encroached mangroves. “As per the Environment Protection Act, there has to be a buffer zone of 50 metres to facilitate movement of intertidal water and no construction or dumping of debris is allowed. However, more than 90 per cent of bungalows have violated norms and committed a punishable offence,” said Makarand Ghodke, assistant conservator, Mangrove Cell.
Most of the mangrove cover diminishes from suburbs
According to the reports from an NGO Watchdog Foundation, about 50 per cent of the mangrove cover drop. They said, it has satellite images from October 2013 and June 2016 that shows a decline in forest cover. “Reckless developmental activities without any concern for the environment, has led to drop in 50 per cent of mangrove cover at suburban like Khar and Bandra mangrove patch,” said Godfrey Pimenta, trustee, Watchdog Foundation.
The encroachments on the southern end of the beach have led to the destruction of over 500 to 600 mangrove trees.
