Do not render eco-warriors' efforts meaningless

A city-based green activist has alleged that the suburban collector's office and Mangrove Cell have failed to follow a 2018 Bombay High Court order to create a buffer zone within 50 metres of a mangrove patch. Illegal hutments of Ganpat Patil Nagar in Dahisar (W) are eating into the mangrove cover and wetlands.

A report in this paper quoted the activist as saying that 200 hutments have been constructed in recent months. Several officials who have answered queries are passing the buck, as to who should enforce this buffer zone. Meanwhile, it is the mangroves and the wetlands that have become the casualty in this rigmarole.

If there are orders to create a buffer zone, one fails to understand why there is so much confusion about who has to create the buffer. Everything must be clearly defined so that orders cannot fall through the cracks because of the grey area.

Questions that need to be addressed are: who is going to create the buffer zone? What is the time frame that it has to be created in? Why is it not being created? Answer these questions, act on it and come up with a quick solution.

For years now, eco-warriors have run around in circles trying to save the environment, keeping a vigil, calling out powerful builders and lobbies, often at the cost of their lives and if not to that extreme, then certainly living in fear.

Today, we see great climate consciousness amongst people. Even if some are merely cosmetic, there are thousands who are genuinely trying to prevent eco-damage in their own small way. Such drives are meaningless if hard-won orders are not followed.

Ecological balance has so many psychological benefits, besides, of course, the physical upsides of living near green patches. Save mangroves and wetlands, we cannot stress that enough.

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