Illustration/Uday Mohite

Mumbai's seasoned crooks are at it again! Slimy politicians are colluding with greedy builders to gobble up the Maharashtra Nature Park (aka Mahim Nature Park, MNP), one of the city's last few green lungs, to develop real estate. Its 41 acres, a veritable gold mine, are sandwiched between the swank Bandra Kurla Complex commercial hub, across the Mithi River, to its north, and the sprawling slum of Dharavi to its south. The government claims that the MNP is being included in the Dharavi Development Plan "for better planning of redevelopment of Dharavi". A notification by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), seeking to do this, was issued on March 5, giving the public a month to raise objections. Plans include a five-storey car park, restaurants, a bridge and toilet blocks. Environmentalists believe that once the park is included in Dharavi's development plan, nothing can stop builders from grabbing it. So, we have barely 10 days to save our own fate and Mumbai's.