Mumbai: Amid demands from conservationists to stop the hacking of mangroves, the Maharashtra Government has urged the Centre to authorise the state forest department to take cognizance of the coastal regulation zone (CRZ)violations on mangrove lands. In a letter to the Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar, Maharashtra's environment minister Aaditya Thackeray has appealed to incorporate section 19 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986, for effective protection of mangroves in the state.
Aaditya said that the CRZ notification issued in January 2011 categorises mangrove areas as CRZ-I- eco-sensitive areas and stipulates the prohibition of construction in mangrove areas. ‘‘The state government has notified the mangroves on government land as ‘reserved forest,’’ under the Forest Act, 1927. The state revenue and forest departments have created a mangrove cell, a dedicated body within the forest department for the conservation of mangroves in the state,’’ he said.
He said that it was noted that the forest department is authorised to act on cases of mangrove destruction on government land under the Forest Act, 1927. ‘‘However, the forest department has no authority to take cognizance of mangrove destruction on private land. Such violations are dealt with under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, read with the CRZ Notification, 2011, and officers authorised to take cognizance of offences are the district collector, sub-divisional officers, the state pollution control board and the state environment department,’’ he noted.
He recalled that the meeting was held under his chairmanship in November last year and it was decided to approach the Centre for effective conservation of mangroves on private land, seeking its authorisation enabling the forest department to take cognizance of CRZ violations on mangrove land.
In a related development, Aaditya also urged Javadekar to instruct the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Chennai, at the earliest,to expedite the finalisation of draft coastal zone management plans (CZMPs) of Greater Mumbai. He said that the CZMPs need to be prepared on 1:25000 and 1:4000 scales. The state government had engaged the NCSCM for preparation of the CZMPs under the CRZ Notification, 2019.
‘‘Accordingly, the NCSCM, Chennai, completed the preparation of Draft CZMPs 2019, on a 1:25,000 scale for Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburbs, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Thane and Palghar district areas. The public hearings on the draft CZMPs have been conducted at the district level.
‘‘The NCSCM reviewed the preparation of the Draft CZMPs, 2019 and assured that soon these would be placed before its technical scrutiny committee for examination.’’ He reiterated that Centre needed to instruct the NCSCM to soon finalise the draft CZMPs of Greater Mumbai.
