Navi Mumbai: Flamingos have started to return to the 289-hectare wetland at Panje in Uran. Wildlife enthusiast Parag Gharat shared pictures celebrating the sighting of over 300 flamingos at the wetland. This area often suffers from blocked inter-tidal water due to vested interests aiming to keep it dry, according to NatConnect Foundation.
To the relief of environmentalists, the State government has recently listed Panje as one of the 564 wetlands documented by a Chennai-based research institute.
"The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) and the Raigad district collector are now responsible for ensuring that the water inlets at Panje remain unobstructed," said NatConnect director B N Kumar.
Vanashakti and Sagar Shakti are engaged in a legal battle at Bombay High Court to protect the wetland and the biodiversity of the ecologically fragile Uran region. Environmentalists are concerned because the wetland has been wrongly leased to NMSEZ (now NMIIA), in which CIDCO holds a 26% stake.
Nandakumar Pawar of Sagar Shakti questioned, "Who would want to destroy such a beautiful and biodiverse area?" He also emphasized that maintaining this and other intertidal wetlands would ensure a large availability of fish, benefiting the local community.
