There's some bad news for environment and nature lovers. A project being implemented by CIDCO will require diversion of 23.7687 ha of forest land for construction of the Nerul-Uran Railway Phase I, covering the Thane and Raigad districts of Maharashtra. CIDCO, the agency implementing the project, has submitted a proposal for the same to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).

As per the proposal, 7.94 ha forest land in Thane and 15.83 ha in Alibaug will need to be cleared to make way for the project. The villages that come under this area include Shahabaj, Karave, Targhar, Panvel creek, Ulwe, Bahal, Kharkhopar and Gahan.