For over a year, Versova residents had been shouting that the local land mafia has been systematically destroying mangroves by burning old tyres, so that the greens are burnt. The land is then used to build huts in the area.

This paper has consistently reported about mangrove patches being sacrificed to construct hutments in the western suburbs. Yet another report in this paper highlights how in Versova's mangrove patch on Yari Road, 15 to 20 hutments have already come up.