Mumbai activists urge citizens to save the city ahead of World Earth Day

Himanshu Prem Joshi, Girish Raut and Nandakumar Pawar at the #BoomCityDoomCity seminar at Press Club on Friday. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Green warriors and mangrove messiahs came together at a seminar called #BoomCityDoomCity on Friday, April 20, at the Press Club, Azad Maidan, on the eve of Earth Day, which falls on Sunday. The first speaker, Nandakumar Pawar, said, "The Parsik Hill range in Navi Mumbai has already suffered irreparable damage due to reckless quarrying, with some hills facing extinction. At least 264.1 hectares have been mined against the permissible area of 138.07 hectares, the deputy conservator of forests, Thane, has said."

Mangrove moves
Pawar, who has earned the sobriquet 'mangrove warrior', says mangrove destruction is widespread and systematic across the city. "It begins with dumping debris on the mangroves, which then becomes a dump, giving interested parties leeway to clear the mangroves, cement the land and start construction." Pawar added, "There are 27 villages in Uran, which is a fishing and bird paradise. Now, both these are on the verge of extinction because of mangrove destruction and huge ecological imbalances because of various projects there."

Cultural erosion
Pawar concluded with, "The government should not allow mangroves to be chopped down. I am a fisherman by birth and feel my community is getting displaced. We feel homeless and unwanted in our homeland. Do not disturb the hydrology, let nature takes its course and see how it rewards you."

Claim reclaim
Advocate Girish Raut of the 'Save Earth' non-profit wants to go back to the era of the spinning wheel and butter churn. Referring to the development of the city and how the sea was reclaimed for development, Raut said, "First of all, 'reclaim' is the wrong word, because it [the sea] never belonged to us in the first place, so how can we 'reclaim' something that was never ours?" Raut asked if Metro III was really development? "We are told that 600-odd trees are being cut for the Metro. That is untrue. At least 10,000 trees are being cut." Raut slammed meteorological centres in the city, saying, "In Mumbai temperatures are as high as 42 and 45 degrees C. We are routinely told it is 38 or 35 degrees. The heat is getting unbearable because of tree felling." Raut also asked, "Why are BEST buses becoming fewer and cars being promoted? This is because the oil, cement, steel and car manufacturing lobbies are in cahoots and colluding for profits at the cost of the world."

A transformation
Activist Himanshu Prem Joshi took the mike next. It was under his leadership that a vast green belt has been developed on a garbage dump at the Bhavan's campus in Andheri. He showed inspiring slides of Bhavan's Nature and Adventure Centre project. Joshi's initiative was an uplifting sign off to a seminar where activists warned that only constant vigilance, iron will and action will stop the slide into doom.

264.1HA
Area mined in Parsik Hills

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