The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) will start the procedure of transferring 219 hectares of mangroves land under its ownership to the mangroves cell of the State Forest Department, for their protection and conservation. It will be transferred through the Collector of Raigad to the forest department.
The District Collector of Raigad will take possession of mangrove land from CIDCO on July 27, 2021. Further the mangrove land will be transferred to the state Forest department.
Dr Sanjay Mukherjee, vice chairman and managing director of CIDCO said, "CIDCO has always given due importance to environment-friendly development in its policy. Accordingly, CIDCO has decided to transfer 219 ha of mangroves land to the state forest department".
The transfer of mangrove in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (Mumbai) is a long pending procedure following the Bombay High Court order. In 2018, while responding to a public interest litigation (PIL) by an environmental group, the Bombay High Court directed that mangrove lands under various government bodies should be transferred to the forest department for their protection.
"In order to protect and conserve the mangrove forest in MMR under reserved forest, the concerned authorities are transferring the mangrove region under their jurisdiction to the State Forest Department. Accordingly, it is decided to transfer mangrove land from Mauje Kamothe and Mauje Panvel admeasuring 219 ha notified under Navi Mumbai project to the forest department," said a senior CIDCO official..
He added that the CIDCO has already written to the District Collector, Raigad in this regard. "The District Collector of Raigad will take possession of mangrove land from CIDCO on July 27, 2021 and further transfer to the State Forest Department," said the official.
Later, other mangrove lands in Panvel and Uran will be also handed over to Mangrove cell in the next phase.
