Mumbai: Authorities turn blind eye to illegal dumping of debris in mangroves in Versova village

The authorities appear to be turning a blind eye to the illegal dumping of debris on mangrove and Coastal Regulation Zone CRZ land near Shiv Galli in Versova village Pictures recently clicked by a nature lover shed light on the rampant discarding of construction material in an area with a radius of 300 metres in the ecologically rich spot Recently a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC officer who was cracking down on illegal buildings in the village was allegedly transferredThe nature lover told midday ldquoNot only is illegal construction taking place near Shiv Galli but huge amounts of construction debris are also being dumped on mangrove and CRZ land Shockingly the mangrove cell authorities have not taken any steps for the protection of these ecologically sensitive areas The pictures I clicked around three weeks ago show the rampant dumping that is happening and I hope authorities take strict action against those involvedrdquoWhen this reported visited the area near Shiv Galli recently he observed that a board had been put up near the mangrove patch by the mangrove cell of the Maharashtra forest department and it mentions that the area is a notified reserved forest and that grazing hunting tree cutting farming encroachment and throwing garbage or dumping are prohibitedHowever heaps of debris could be seen in and around the area where the board was set up Also around 300400 metres from the board we noticed that storage units for construction material had come up close to CRZ areas A local who did not wish to be named said ldquoFor about three years I have been witnessing the land mafia encroaching on mangrove and CRZ areas close to Shiv Galli Their trucks loaded with construction material systematically scatter debris here late at nightrdquo Nature lovers from the area alleged that this is happening with the blessings of a local politicianGreen SpeakEnvironmentalist Stalin D from the NGO Vanashakti said ldquoAll CRZ zones are witnessing illegal dumping of debris on a massive scale Across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region CRZ areas are being buried This cannot happen without the connivance of corrupt officials Repeated complaints have yielded no result The situation is serious We need urgent intervention and restoration of the degraded sitesrdquoPictures of illegal dumping near Shiv Galli in Versova village clicked by the nature lover around three weeks agoEnvironmentalist Debi Goenka said ldquoAs per the rules the garbage trucks of BMC should have GPS so it is not difficult for the civic body to find out who is dumping garbage in the mangrove and CRZ area in Versova village Over and above that the police have a huge network of CCTV cameras across the city and the police administration has a system in place Using this they should find out the dumpers and people responsible for dumping the debris As far as construction debris is concerned there are the construction and demolition CampD waste rules of BMC Under them builders are required to take permission from BMC when they demolish any building and they are also required to estimate the quantity of debris After paying the charges the BMC will send them a separate truck to collect CampD waste and dispose of it in a designated dumping ground As per a high court order it is the job of the BMC to remove debris and garbage especially in mangrove areas There is not a single example where the BMC has done what the court has ordered them to do The mangrove cell is sitting on a corpus of over R500 crore so itrsquos not that they dont have money to protect mangroves What is likely to happen there now is that a slum will come up at the location overnight sponsored by some builder Soon this will be declared as an SRA project and some huge buildings will be built This is basically a land grab modus operandirdquoFilmmaker and social activist Ashoke Pandit said ldquoThe system has totally failed in protecting mangroves and open spaces in Versova and Lokhandwala in Andheri This is not possible without the support of a local public representative Areas near Bangur Nagar in Goregaon West and Versova have become a nightmare The transfer of Assistant Municipal Commissioner Prithviraj Chauhan for his proactive stance against the land mafia in Versova has sent wrong signals and has demotivated lots of officers and citizens like usrdquo When contacted mangrove cell officials were unavailable for comment