PANVEL Navi Mumbai residents can explore the beauty of the Kharghar Hills in the second week of December as several environmental organisations have come together to celebrate a two-day Kharghar Hill Festival on the occasion of International Mountain Day on December 10-11.
The festival attractions include a photo exhibition on the biodiversity of the hills, nature trails, awareness activities, creative corner, apart from a seminar on the importance of the hills.
Experts in the fields of adventure will conduct a nature trail and trekking with prior registrations.
The main event will be organised at Pandav Kada View Point, near the Gurdwara and Golf Course.
“The idea is basically to focus on the denudation of our hills and the need to conserve them for the present as well as future generations,” said Jyoti Nadkarni of Kharghar Hill and Wetlands forum. While there is no alternative to development, the process has to be sustainable, she said.
Environmentalists have been raising the issues concerning the Kharghar Hills -stretching from the end of Belapur to Taloja – either due to reckless quarrying or unchecked forest fires.
Kharghar Hills have a vast biodiversity which is all at stake now with the development activities, said B N Kumar of NatConnect Foundation. “It takes thousands of years for the hills to form and we will finish them in a few decades,” Kumar said, judging from the experience of defacing and destroying the Parsik Hills.
{{/usCountry}}Kharghar Hills have a vast biodiversity which is all at stake now with the development activities, said B N Kumar of NatConnect Foundation. “It takes thousands of years for the hills to form and we will finish them in a few decades,” Kumar said, judging from the experience of defacing and destroying the Parsik Hills.
{{/usCountry}}The hills are rich in biodiversity, a year-long BNHS survey has revealed populations of 487 plant species in the Nature Park here. The monsoon-to-winter transition period was seen to be the most productive, even when compared with that of monsoon. The survey area revealed the presence of 10 endangered and rare plant species.
Researchers have found 295 insect species, 15 other invertebrates, 12 fishes, 9 amphibians, 28 reptiles, 179 birds and 12 mammals’ species in a survey.
Residents have a chance to spend time on the hills to enjoy some of this biodiversity through the two-day festival.
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