Thane: The Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Responding to the relentless campaign by the environmentalists and local residents from Navi Mumbai has now referred the Parsik Hill slope cutting issue to the Thane Collector.
“We have received a mail from the Chief Minister stating that the complaint has been referred to the district collector for further action,” said NatConnect director B N Kumar said in his fifth complaint to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
“We understand that the district collector has all the powers to intervene to check the damage to hills. Hence, we have requested the Thane district collector to stop the destruction,” Kumar said.
Full-grown trees have been chopped and burnt down and flower pots are being lined up the hill slope in the name of beautification, Kumar pointed out sending photographic evidence of the non-stop damage to the hill.
Thackeray has earlier asked the Forest and Urban Development Department Secretaries to look into the matter.
Forest Secretary P Venugopal Reddy has also repeatedly asked the Chief Conservator of Forests to check.
Navi Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Abhijit Bangar on his part asked his officers to look into the issue. "Yet, unfortunately, there has been no action and this looks like just passing on the buck game,” the environmental damages could be enormous with landslides during rains, depletion of water holding capacity and above all huge threat to the residential buildings. CIDCO allotted 200 odd plots and a hundred of them are occupied with multi-storied buildings, Kumar pointed out.
“We have been complaining for the past two months and all that we hear is that the concerned officials are being asked,” he regretted. Kumar has also raised the issue with Konkan Divisional Commissioner Vilas Patil in the presence of Waterman of India Dr Rajendra Singh who met the official last week.
The sad part is that the damage is happening right next to the Sion-Panvel highway on which many officials drive. Moreover, the site is within a stone’s throw from CIDCO and Konkan Divisional headquarters, Kumar said.
An NMMC official said the civic body was doing tree plantation with the help of CSR funds of a corporate house. “This is a totally unwarranted exercise as the hill is naturally beautiful,” said Jayant Thakur, president of Parsik Hill Residents Association.
NMMC however said it has nothing to do with the cutting and digging of the slopes. It is dangerous to dig with heavy JCB machines under the guise of this so-called beautification, Thakur said.
Right now, regular steps are being constructed right from the base and two huge hoardings have come upon the Hill for which again digging was done, said Vishnu Joshi, a resident of the Parsik Hill.
Full-grown trees have been chopped and burnt and one fails to understand what kind of beautification is being done, said Nandakumar Pawar, head of Shri Ekvira Aai Pratishtan.
