Mumbai: Forest dept awaits details from BMC in order to process Gargai dam plan

BMC’s proposed Gargai dam project will come at the cost of lakhs of trees and the destruction of the wildlife habitat in the Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary. Pic/Ranjeet Jadhav

The likelihood of critically endangered forest owlet losing its habitat in the Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary has increased as the officials of the forest department and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) jointly visited the site of the proposed Gargai dam in Palghar district. The forest department is awaiting some crucial details about the project from the BMC to process the proposal.

Confirming the same, Akshay Gajbhiye, deputy conservator of forest (wildlife), Thane, said, "I have visited the site and the user agency (BMC) has briefed me about the project. Some important details are awaited from the user agency and once the official proposal is received by my office we will take it up from there and process it accordingly".

The initial proposal for the Gargai dam covered 1,100 hectares, impacting 700 hectares and over four lakh trees in Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary. In addition, people living in 1,000 had to be displaced. The Gargai dam project was supposed to be completed by 2025 but it was halted due to massive destruction of lakhs of trees by the then Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

In the latest plan, the dam will affect 814 hectares of land, including 557 hectares of forest land that will be submerged. Tribal people residing in 618 homes needed to be displaced. The BMC claimed that the number of affected trees has now decreased from 4.28 lakh to 2.91 lakh. The process of PAP is being undertaken simultaneously with forest and environmental permissions.

Wildlife lovers and photographers who have been visiting Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary have spotted the critically endangered forest owlet at Tansa. In October 2014, Sunil Laad and his friends had spotted the critically endangered forest owlet at Tansa. As the news about the same went viral researchers had demanded that there was a need to conserve crucial avian habitat in Tansa and the adjoining areas.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List has named this bird as the one facing a high risk of extinction. Till now, the forest owlet was endemic to Satpuda mountain ranges in central India. Its discovery in the Western Ghats has brought new hope about its survival.

Work on the project had been progressing before the MVA took office and the COVID-19 lockdown commenced. Originally slated for completion by 2025, the budget for the financial year 2021-22 only allocated a meagre Rs 3.5 crore for the Rs 4,000-crore project, with no provision in 2022-23. The BMC prioritised the desalination plant due to concerns that the Gargai dam might destroy dense forest. However, the Gargai dam project has now gained significant momentum.