Maharashtra government lost papers on Aarey-SGNP land transfer in 2012 Mumbai fire

Aarey, one of the last remaining green lungs in Mumbai, is under threat from development activities

The papers which showed the transfer of forest land from Aarey Milk Colony to Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) were lost during the Mantralaya fire in June 2012, the state government has said in its response to a query under the Right To Information Act.

here is a proposal to build a car-shed for Metro 3 over 33 hectares of Aarey. (HT File Photo)

The reply has a mistake in the date — June 21, 2016.

In June, environment group Vanashakti had released documents that showed that the forest department had demarcated 20.76sqkm of Aarey Milk Colony as ‘unclassed forests’ of the SGNP. HT had reported this on June 11. Aarey, one of the last remaining green lungs in the city, is under threat from development activities. There is a proposal to build a car-shed for Metro 3 over 33 hectares of Aarey. Work on this was stalled after the National Green Tribunal stayed it, following a petition from from Vanashakti and Aarey Conservation Group, a citizens forum.

Vanshakti, in an RTI query to the state’s revenue department in May, asked for a copy of the letter and other documents that show the transfer of land from Bombay Milk Scheme (now Aarey) to the national park in 1969.

The government’s reply to the application said: “According to your query, we want to inform you that all the documents in this office were destroyed during the fire that broke out in Mantralaya on June 21, 2016. However, since the area in question is on government land, the district collector has been notified of the state’s decision. Hence, to ensure that you get your response, we have forwarded the query to the Mumbai suburban collector’s office.”

Vanshakti, which had obtained documents about the land transfer from the state forest department, had submitted an affidavit to NGT on February 17, saying that tracts of Aarey were transferred to SGNP when the park was expanded. This meant that the land in Aarey, a forest land, could not be diverted for projects. The document from July 1980 that states 2,076.073 hectares of land was transferred to SGNP.

“Despite submitting RTIs to a number of departments, it is mysterious that not only the revenue department, but all others that are supposed to have a copy of this correspondence are not revealing the details,” said Stalin D, director, Vanashakti, adding that it was a big cover-up and indicates a possible land scam.

Meanwhile, when HT contacted the Mumbai suburban collector regarding the issue being forwarded to him by the revenue department, he refused to comment.

The next hearing is listed for July 24 at NGT, Pune.