HC panel to set up mangrove control room

The Mangrove Protection and Conservation Committee chairman Dr Mahendra Kalyankar has issued directions at the last meeting facilitating the setting up of a dedicated control room and a secretariat to help attend to complaints regarding mangrove destruction.

NAVI MUMBAI

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Environmentalists’ dream of a dedicated mangrove control room to check destruction of the sea forests may soon come true with the High Court appointed committee taking a decision to that effect.

The Mangrove Protection and Conservation Committee chairman Dr Mahendra Kalyankar has issued directions at the last meeting facilitating the setting up of a dedicated control room and a secretariat to help attend to complaints regarding mangrove destruction.

This is in line with the High Court ruling of September 2018 which said destruction of mangroves is a violation of fundamental rights.

Dr Kalyankar also issued directives for setting a CCTV camera network and a half yearly satellite imagery to keep a close eye on the health of the mangrove forests along the state’s coast.

The mangrove committee has also set up district-wise dedicated toll-free telephone systems for the convenience of the people to complain about mangrove destruction.

The chairman has directed all coastal district collectors to prepare a list of sensitive mangrove sites and keep a close vigil on them with the help of security guards and police.

NatConnect Foundation which has been following up with the mangrove committee as well as the State government for a control room and a CCTV camera network welcomed the moves. “We hope to see these proposals taking off very soon,” said NatConnect director B N Kumar. The CCTV camera proposal has been pending for a long time after the government and mangrove foundation announced it, he said.

There is also a demand also for a special police squad to combat debris mafia since existing force is inadequate to tackle the large scale debris dumping.

In the absence of any check on the debris mafia and the complaints being passed on to the collectors, the mangrove destruction has been continuing, regretted Nandakumar Pawar, head of Shri Ekvira Aai Pratishtan.

Mangroves in MMR are subjected to a double whammy, Pawar pointed out. On the one hand city planners lease out mangrove zones to infrastructure projects and on the other the debris mafia keeps burying the tidal plants, he said.

In this context, he said, the mangrove committee must take action against government agencies such for playing with mangroves, he said.