Mumbai: Land within SGNP to soon be clear of encroachments | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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Mumbai: Land within SGNP to soon be clear of encroachments

ByPrayag Arora-Desai, Mumbai
Mar 27, 2021 10:54 PM IST

Several acres of land within the confines of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) that were cordoned off and deforested in violation of the Forest Conservation Act (1980) during the Covid-19 induced lockdown last year, will soon be cleared of encroachments, as the forest department is planning to conduct a series of demolition drives in the area early next month

Several acres of land within the confines of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) that were cordoned off and deforested in violation of the Forest Conservation Act (1980) during the Covid-19 induced lockdown last year, will soon be cleared of encroachments, as the forest department is planning to conduct a series of demolition drives in the area early next month.

Aarey Colony’s Sai Bangodapada village is spread over at least 20 acres of protected forest land, has been notorious for encroachments.
Aarey Colony’s Sai Bangodapada village is spread over at least 20 acres of protected forest land, has been notorious for encroachments.

Officials in the SGNP administration said that the land in question, which abuts Aarey Colony’s Sai Bangodapada village and is spread over at least 20 acres of protected forest land, has been notorious for encroachments. “The area is very much within the national park. We had attempted to remove the violators sometime last year, but enforcement teams faced resistance on the ground. There is a proper encroachment removal drive being planned for early next month, for which we will request adequate police bandobast,” said G Mallikarjuna, chief conservator of forests, SGNP.

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The forest department had previously run into conflicts with encroachers in the region. On March 23 last year, five forest officers who went to Sai Bangodapada to question the locals were allegedly attacked. One of them had to be admitted to Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Care Centre with injuries. A few days before that, a forest guard had also been beaten up in the nearby Filterpada slum. A forest department official, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the area has turned into a hub for the production of illicit liquor. “You will see stacks of chopped branches which are used as fuelwood in manufacturing alcohol illegally. There are a few kachas structures in the area where this is being done,” said the officer.

According to environmentalists who have been tracking the area, the scale of encroachments near Sai Bangodapada runs into at least 100 acres. In a petition addressed to environment minister Aaditya Thackeray last year, activists had stated, “The section of Sanjay Gandhi National Park that borders Aarey from Bangodapada is being systematically decimated. Over a hundred acres of protected national parkland has been cordoned off in many places, deforested, fifty-year-old trees chopped down and burnt in many places inside the park boundaries near the Vihar lake.”

“At many places, barbed wire fencing has been put up. Please note that these areas are not the ones used for cultivation by the tribals for many decades but are fresh acts of destruction not more than two months old. Bootlegging is seen at some places too,” the petition said. “Sanjay Gandhi National Park, unlike Aarey, is already a declared forest. There is no reason why any action needs to be taken to protect this park should be delayed,” it added.

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