There's a threat to Parsik Tunnel from unexpected quarters — schools. Sharda Hindi School and Kalwa High School, built exactly on the tunnel and operating for many years now, have, in fact, come up illegally on forestland and endanger the tunnel. Started in the 90s, both schools don't have permission from the forest department, and yet, received the same from the zilla parishad (ZP) and Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC).

A tragedy of errors
Forest department officer Dr Jitendra Ramgaokar said, "We did not give permission to either school, operating on forestland with impunity since years." Dr B Pal of Sharda school, however, said, "The structure was already there when we took it on rent from a woman, who identified herself as Lata. We gave her a one-time rent, after which she vanished from the area. The structure is not on our name, but we did get permission from the ZP. We cannot show the documents to anyone as they are confidential."