Act on wetland destruction in 15 days, Centre tells Maharashtra

Green activists have also complained about Bhendkhal wetland which now looks like a piece of dry land

Upset with inaction by state authorities, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has given a 15-day deadline to the Maharashtra Environment Department to act on the host of complaints from green groups against destruction of wetlands in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

Taking note of the lack of response from the department and the wetland authority despite five e-mails from the Centre, Dr E Arockia Lenin, director and Scientist C, MoEFCC has sent a fresh message to State Environment Principal Secretary Manisha Patankar-Mhaiskar calling for time-bound action and a report on the same.

Dr Lenin in his letter said that the MoEFCC has been receiving grievances on pollution and construction activities on wetlands, "however, no response has been received by this ministry from the authorities concerned till date", it said.

It may be noted that NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar, who has been periodically complaining, received a copy of the letter to the state officials along with a 40-page annexure of the complaints and mails.

Also read: Mumbai green activists say wetlands put on back burner

Navi Mumbai airport issue

Kumar has repeatedly pointed out to the MoEFCC that the Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited (NMIAL) has allegedly obtained the Environmental Clearance based on a false claim that CIDCO was taking adequate steps to protect the wetlands as suggested by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). "Far from protecting the wetlands, CIDCO has been ensuring that the water bodies are buried by ignoring even the high court-appointed committee's directives," he said in a press release.

Kumar also claimed that BNHS has repeatedly said in its studies that the wetlands at Belpada, Bhendkhal, Panje, NRI, TS Chanakya and DPS Lake must be protected as thousands of migratory birds land here.

The Environment Impact Assessment submitted by NMIAL to MOEFCC states, "Maintaining the current state of this landscape, especially wetlands and Protected Areas, is essential for the air safety of the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA). Any changes in the current state of these areas will result in more erratic movement of the birds in the landscape between feeding and roosting sites, which may jeopardise the air safety of NMIA." Kumar in the press release also stated that the authority does not seem to be serious about bird hit threats to flights, despite repeated complaints.

Other complaints

"The inter-tidal water flow to Panje wetland is being intermittently blocked in gross violation of the National Green Tribunal's order. CIDCO illegally leased out the 289-hectare wetland to NMSEZ which continues to occupy the area," said Nandakumar Pawar, head of Shri Ekvira Aai Pratishthan.

Similarly, Savarkhar wetland was buried by Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) though the water body figures on the Uran tehsildar's list of wetlands. JNPA is also doing landfill on Belpada wetland to create a parking lot, he said.

Kharghar-based activists Nareshchandra Singh, Jyoti Nadkarni and Seema Tonk have drawn the MoEFCC's attention to debris dumping on long stretches of wetlands in the node and pointed out cases of large scale, organised shrimp farming by blocking the tidal water flow.

As regards the NRI wetlands, Sunil Agrawal of Save Navi Mumbai Environment has raised several complaints against the construction permitted by CIDCO on CRZ and salt pan area, on the edge of the water body. He also pointed at debris and material dumping close to the wetland.

5
No emails by the Centre that were ignored by the state