11,000 hectares of mangroves await protection

Seven years post-court ruling, 11,000 hectares of mangroves in Maharashtra remain unprotected as government bodies delay transferring land to forest dept.

Intro: Seven years after a high court order, forest dept yet to notify the land as ‘protected forest’ as government bodies are still in possession of these plots

11,000 hectares of mangroves await protection

MUMBAI: Seven years since the Bombay high court (HC) declared mangroves as ‘protected forests’, all seven districts in the Konkan, including Mumbai, are yet to transfer 11,000-odd hectares to the state forest department, leaving them unprotected and vulnerable to destruction. To get the administrative machinery moving, environmental NGO Vanashakti filed a contempt of court petition in the high court last month.

Data obtained by Vanashakti under the Right to Information Act (RTI) reveals that of the 11,000 hectares in question, Palghar district accounts for the single largest share, with 4,712.43 hectares, followed by Raigad with 4,481.77 hectares, Ratnagiri with 1,159.44 hectares and Thane with 447.68 hectares.

Most of this eco-sensitive land is owned by government agencies, which are yet to surrender it to the state forest department, whose mangrove cell would then formally notify it as ‘protected forest’, as per the court verdict. In Raigad, for instance, JNPA and CIDCO own most of the mangrove plots, while in Mumbai, the MMRDA, BMC and the salt department of the Mumbai city collectorate control much of this land.

“Vesting all this land with the state mangrove cell would create a sense of ownership. For instance, there have been cases in Mira-Bhayandar, where a building was constructed violating the 50-metre buffer zone of wetlands. But since the wetland fell under the municipal corporation as well as the mangrove cell, both agencies passed the buck and no action was taken,” explains Stalin, director of Vanashakti.

Protection of mangroves in Maharashtra’s coastal areas has its genesis in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG) in the Bombay High Court in 2005. The Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre (MRSAC), that same year, found the total area under mangroves to be 25,771 hectares.

However, a survey carried out by the state’s mangrove cell concluded last month that the figure was 35,000-odd hectares, of which 11,000 hectares are still pending. “While most of the land is on the MRSAC maps of 2005, some are newly identified,” said Ramarao.

Thirteen years after the PIL was filed, in 2018, the court delivered its final verdict – it declared all mangrove land in the state as ‘protected forest’. It also directed that the land be brought under the jurisdiction of the mangrove cell, which was to notify it as ‘protected forest’ within eight weeks.

So why the delay in notifying mangroves as ‘protected forests’? SV Ramarao, additional principal chief conservator of forests and head of the state mangrove cell, said, “These government bodies are still in possession of 11,000 hectares. We have sent regular reminders but it is the responsibility of the authorities concerned to comply.”

Environmental activists who are a part of the PIL point to a 2013 government resolution, which gave mangroves an additional layer of protection by declaring it a ‘reserve forest’. This brought the fragile mangrove ecosystem under the Indian Forest Act 1927, Forest Conservation Act 1980, and Environment Protection Act 1986, which bar any kind of activity on the land.

“The GR was well intentioned but it added to the challenges. If the land was only a ‘protected forest’, all the agencies had to do was hand it over to the mangrove cell. Declaring it a ‘reserve forest’ added several steps to the process,” explained environmental activist Debi Goenka of the BEAG, the original petitioner.

The owners of the land would have to conduct an on-ground survey to demarcate these areas, clear encroachments and settle claims, if any, on these lands before the local district authorities handed it over to the state mangrove cell.

Meanwhile, mangroves continue to be threatened by debris dumping, encroachments and landfilling for development projects. For instance, at least 4,000 hectares of the 4,712.43 hectares in Palghar district is encroached, claimed Stalin.

“Since these 11,000 hectares are yet to be declared as ‘protected forest’, government bodies are able to obtain permission to build projects on these lands in coastal areas, leading to their destruction,” he said.

According to an April 23 meeting of the mangrove monitoring committee constituted by the high court, the panel had received a total of 694 mangrove destruction complaints from across the state. Of these, 469 were resolved. “These are only the recorded complaints, but a lot of destruction goes unnoticed,” said Stalin.

Goenka said that demarcating mangrove land in the development plans of the cities is essential if mangrove conservation is to be taken seriously. “By demarcating, engineers will know the exact area left for a project to be developed, barring the 50-m buffer zone, which is currently totally violated.”