Forest department officials have begun clearing manmade bunds blocking intertidal water flow to mangroves at Kamothe and Kharghar areas of Navi Mumbai, thus paving the way to save roughly 3,000 mangroves.
Range forest officer of the mangrove conservation unit (Navi Mumbai) ML Manjare, who had earlier complained to the police and revenue departments about the bunds, has now ordered the removal of the blockages.
The bund at Kharghar is around 360mt-long, while the one at Kamothe is approximately 120mt-long. “Both these are being demolished now. We hope to finish the work in a day or two,” Mr Manjare said.
Appreciating the quick move by the mangrove conservation unit, the NatConnect Foundation pointed out that the inordinate delay in CIDCO handing over the mangroves to the forest department is leading to this sabotage of the sea plants. Forest department records show that of the total eight hectares affected at these two stretches in Kharghar and Kamothe, just 1.74 hectares are with the mangrove cell for conservation. The remaining 6.3 hectares – covering roughly 6,300 mangroves – is still with CIDCO.
Advocate Pradeep Patole who had earlier brought to the notice of officials the large-scale land grabbing in the area praised Mr Manjare and his team for the quick action.
Ranjana Sadolikar of the Citizen Unity Forum of Kamothe said, “We have been raising our voice to save the mangroves and at last the forest department acted. We thank Mr Manjare for his great initiative."
“This is a big move to remove such massive bunds and it is not an easy job,” said Nareshchandra Singh of Kharghar Wetland and Hill Forum. “My respect for forest officials is much higher now,” he said.
BN Kumar of NatConnect Foundation said, “Most of the mangroves have either dried up or perished due to stagnation of water caused by the block. Hopefully, the plants will grow back with the restoration of the intertidal flow.”
