PWD moots a ropeway over national park’s core zone to boost tourism

Significantly, the state forest department, which has jurisdiction over SGNP, has no knowledge of the proposal. “This idea was mooted by some people in the district planning and development committee but our department has not received the proposal yet,” said a forest official

MUMBAI: At a time when the state government is facing immense flak for the mass destruction of trees in the state, the state Public Works Department (PWD) has come up with another environmentally unfriendly proposal: a ropeway from Mulund to Borivali to “promote tourism”. The ropeway will pass over the core zone of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) which houses thousands of wild animals and has been an off-limits zone for decades.

PWD moots a ropeway over national park’s core zone to boost tourism

Bhushan Fegade, executive engineer of the PWD’s Goregaon division, said that a tender had been floated to appoint consultants for the ropeway. “A feasibility study will be conducted and based on it, the final tender will be issued for construction with permissions,” he said.

Significantly, the state forest department, which has jurisdiction over SGNP, has no knowledge of the proposal. “This idea was mooted by some people in the district planning and development committee but our department has not received the proposal yet,” said a forest official.

A ropeway is a transportation system that moves passengers in chairs suspended from steel cables supported by a series of towers. If the PWD proposal is passed, towers will be erected in SGNP’s core zone, which houses animals like leopards, deer, nilgais (Asian antelopes), wild pigs, crocodiles and peacocks. In 1991, Maneka Gandhi, who was then union minister of state for environment, stopped entry for cars and the public here after repeated demands from the Bombay Natural History Society, and cars are not permitted beyond Kanheri Gate in Borivali. As a result, wildlife has flourished here and the SGNP is home to over 54 leopards.

A private company later also came up with a proposal to build ropeways in Mumbai, one of which was over SGNP, but the plan did not materialise.

Already, various construction activities close to the protected forest have flustered the wildlife there. For instance, the BMC is currently constructing additional water filtration facilities at its Bhandup complex, and the noise from this is reportedly agitating the animals and birds.

Honorary wildlife warden of Mumbai city Pawan Sharma pointed out that any kind of tourism activity could only be carried out in the recreational zone of SGNP. “A ropeway over the core zone and the disruption caused by this will disturb the habitat,” he said. “This is the last surviving green lung of the city. Aarey Colony is already destroyed, and mangroves are being constantly killed for various infra projects.”

Environmental activist D Stalin of NGO Vanashakti said, “We don’t even fly drones over the core zone. If at all tourism is the purpose, the PWD can build a ropeway on the periphery of the forest. Animals are very sensitive to movement around them, and a ropeway will stress them.”