In a significant development, around 1036 hectares (more than 2500 acres) of mangrove belts in the twin-city are all set to be declared as “reserve forest area”. Declaring areas as reserved forest grants them legal sanctity, and aims to conserve biodiversity by curtailing activities like harvesting of natural resources.
The green land parcel has recently been transferred by the revenue department to the forest authorities via gazette notification published on January 12, 2021. The classification process is a part of the forest department’s campaign to bring all mangrove forests in Maharashtra under the purview of section 20 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 (IFA).
While thousands of constructions, which have mushroomed on this land will now face the hammer, dozens of mega developmental projects being executed by various government agencies including the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) will be affected.
“It is the need of the hour for the civic chief to form a joint committee comprising municipal and forest officials to find a way out.” said leader of House, Prashant Dalvi.
“We will duly register our say in the objection-suggestion process and follow-up on the issue to ensure that affected land parcels tagged for developmental projects are omitted.” said MBMC chief, Dilip Dhole.
The entire process starts by first declaring the mangrove sites as reserved forests under section 4 of the IFA, seeking objections and suggestions via the notification, following state level hearings and ascertaining community dependence on the land. Finally, some portion of the land may be excluded from the final notification under section 20 of the IFA, said a revenue officer.
Notably, the move is in accordance with directions issued by the Mumbai High Court to hand over all mangrove areas on state land to the forest department for better conservation and to improve protection of mangroves since they act as buffers during natural disasters such as tsunamis and cyclones.
Government land in revenue villages of the twin-city including-Versova, Ghodbunder, Penkarpada, Navghar, Uttan, Tarodi, Chowk, Murdha, Rai and Bhayandar have been classified as reserve forests. From now on, the forest department which will shoulder the responsibility of safeguarding the newly tagged reserved forest areas, is conducting an aerial survey with the help of drones.
