'Mangroves cell is toothless'

Even as mangroves in the western suburbs have been flagged as under danger, the District Coastal Zone Monitoring Committee (DCZMC) for suburban Mumbai, which was formed to protect the disappearing coastal vegetation, has met only twice since January 2011. Snehal Rebello reports.

Even as mangroves in the western suburbs have been flagged as under danger, the District Coastal Zone Monitoring Committee (DCZMC) for suburban Mumbai, which was formed to protect the disappearing coastal vegetation, has met only twice since January 2011.

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Constituted by the state environment department to look exclusively at violations in mangrove area under the tehsildar, the 10-member committee is empowered under the Environment Protection Act (EPA) 1986, to act on violations on the ecologically sensitive mangroves.

Over the past two decades, the city has lost close to 40% mangrove cover, said environmentalists. "There are too many government agencies on paper to protect mangroves; nothing is happening on the ground and mangrove destructions continue," said Debi Goenka, environmentalist and committee member. "If the government was serious about protecting mangroves, the committee should have met every month at the start followed by meetings once in three months."

The committee headed by the collector can remove encroachments and unauthorised structures on mangrove land, confiscate vehicles, take up cases suo motu or those based on the complaints made by citizens, or even through newspaper reports.

"The committees for south Mumbai and Raigad have been meeting regularly and submitting their minutes but the committee for Mumbai's suburbs has not been meeting. We will take a review of all the committees at the next meeting of the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority," said Valsa Nair Singh, state environment secretary.

In addition to the monitoring committee, seven months ago, the forest department constituted a special mangrove cell to conserve and restore mangroves. The cell has to report violations to the forest department, which under the Forest Conservation Act can levy a fine of Rs 500 and a week's imprisonment.

"The mangrove cell has been rendered toothless because it cannot independently take action against mangrove violations. And it's only restricted to forest land whereas maximum mangrove violations take place on private land," said Stalin D, environmentalist, Vanashakti. "Besides, forest guards cannot restore mangroves. The cell will need a technical team for that purpose."