Three days after complains, forest officials clear debris dump in Aarey

The environmentalists and tribals then made several complaints to the officials about the illegal dumping, highlighting that the ground had been damaged

Mumbai: Three days after environmentalists and tribals residing in the Aarey forests complained about debris and soil being dumped inside the forest, on Saturday forest officials cleared the soil and registered a complaint against the contractor involved.

Three days after complains, forest officials clear debris dump in Aarey

On Wednesday, the locals of the area saw over three trucks of soil and debris being dumped onto an empty area of the forest between 4pm and 6pm. The next morning, they awoke to a nearly 6,700 sq.ft. of area levelled by the debris and soil, said a forest official. As per the forest official’s panchnama, an area of 30m by 30m had been raised by a height of 1.5m.

The environmentalists and tribals then made several complaints to the officials about the illegal dumping, highlighting that the ground had been damaged. Following the complaints, forest officials told HT, “We have cleared the dump, registered a violation report and levied offenses according to the provisions made under the Indian Forest Act 1927 for debris dumping and habitat destruction, against the driver of the dumper trucks.” The official added that they will launch an investigation into the matter and take action against those who commissioned the work.

The forest rights committee of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) P-South ward also wrote a letter to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) authorities. “We demanded strict action against the production company who levelled the ground even though the permission letter from the chief wildlife warden specifically mentioned the ecology must not be destroyed,” said Amrita Bhattacharjee, an environmental activist. She added that the illegal dumping was a gross violation of the Forest Act (1927) and Forest Conservation Act (1980).

Another environmental activist, Nishant Bangera, said, “The contractor insisted that they have permission from the forest department to carry on the work.” However, he added that they had seen the permission letter and it gave no permission to dump truckloads of soil into the forest. “This will change the topography of the area and we are afraid it will damage the fragile ecology of the forest,” said Bangera.