Navi Mumbai: Konkan Commissioner Urges Coordination Among Govt Agencies And Mangroves Conservation

Konkan Divisional Commissioner Mahendra Kalaynkar has directed government agencies to coordinate and prevent any environmental degradation by conserving mangroves.

During a meeting at Konkan Bhavan in Belapur, Kalaynkar asked the government machinery to restore mangroves under the advice of experts and emphasised the need to establish an independent district-level management cell, including a central control room for the redressal of mangroves related grievances, urging vigilance against illegal activities like mangrove destruction.  

Monthly review meetings

The Upper Principal Conservator of Forests (Mangroves), S V Rama Rao recommended holding monthly review meetings regarding the implementation of High Court orders and publishing them regularly on the Konkan Division's website. “If any changes are noticed by monitoring the mangrove area through satellite, the committee should take preventive measures. These works will be reviewed from time to time,” said Mr Rao.

Meanwhile, environmentalists have expressed that hardly any significant steps have been taken regarding the high court's direction on the conservation of mangroves. “It is sad that nearly five years after the Bombay High Court’s order to conserve all mangroves, we are still struggling for coordination among all official agencies,” said NatConnect Foundation director, B N Kumar.

Over a thousand hectares of mangroves are yet to be handed over to the forest department

The transfer of the tidal plants to the forest department remains pending and despite the HC Committee setting a month’s deadline in May this year, over a thousand hectares of mangroves, equivalent to the size of 10 Azad Maidans, are yet to be handed over to the forest department, reveals the court-appointed mangrove conservation committee’s record.

The City and Industrial Development Corporation controls over 628.68 hectares of the tidal plants, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority has 199 hectares, and Mumbai City District controls 184.14 hectares. The head of Sagarshakti, Nandakumar Pawar revealed that there is no account of the hundreds of hectares of mangroves under the Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone, though CIDCO is a 26% stakeholder in the company. He further pointed out that transferring control is important because the mangrove cell under the forest department is unable to act against the debris mafia and others, including big corporates, who continue to destroy the mangroves since the official agencies are not taking any action against the culprits.