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No wetlands in Uran under our jurisdiction, only agricultural lands: NMSEZ tells state
NMSEZ is an integrated industrial township across 4,000 acres proposed in Uran, 26% of which is owned by state body City Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. (Cidco) and 74% by private investors.
The Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone (NMSEZ) has informed the state that there are no wetlands in the areas under its jurisdiction even though the state forest department had identified areas near the Thane creek flamingo sanctuary (TCFS) as satellite wetlands.
NMSEZ is an integrated industrial township across 4,000 acres proposed in Uran, 26% of which is owned by state body City Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. (Cidco) and 74% by private investors. In 2019, following allegations of debris dumping and mangrove destruction in Panje and other areas in Uran, the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) directed the collector of Raigad to investigate the matter.
In a letter dated May 13, accessed by HT and addressed to multiple departments of Raigad district administration, NMSEZ wrote, “We have seen that Panje is being loosely referred at several instances as ‘Panje wetland’ but in reality, there is no wetland in Panje nor any of the NMSEZ land leased by Cidco because it is agricultural land acquired by the Maharashtra government and handed over to Cidco for development of industrial and residential areas.”
Pramod Patil, nodal officer (environment), Cidco confirmed this. “There are no wetlands in Uran in lands owned by Cidco. Submissions by NMSEZ are correct. The response was filed with the help of Cidco,” he said.
NMSEZ also claimed there has been only one case of mangrove destruction in the last 10 years in its areas and only a 30-40 metre stretch is in a coastal regulation zone (where no construction is permitted). NMSEZ has pointed out that the state’s list of wetlands from January 2020 does not include Panje, Bhendkhal or Belpada. The state forest department’s TCFS management plan 2020-30 identifies these three areas in Uran as satellite wetlands in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). However, they are yet to be notified as such by the state environment department.
Environmentalists contested NMSEZ and Cidco’s claims. “Panje has been identified as a wetland in the National Wetland Atlas and there are Supreme Court orders that direct the protection of those wetlands identified under the atlas,” said Debi Goenka, executive trustee, Conservation Action Trust.
