Officials review mangrove destruction

An official from the suburban collector’s office on Wednesday confirmed that the Jayesh Shah, a Kandivli-based builder, has not yet complied with a Supreme Court order to open culverts to allow flow of seawater into a mangrove patch at Dahisar.

An official from the suburban collector’s office on Wednesday confirmed that the Jayesh Shah, a Kandivli-based builder, has not yet complied with a Supreme Court order to open culverts to allow flow of seawater into a mangrove patch at Dahisar.

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Acting on complaints by residents that the culverts were not opened despite the SC order, a team of forest officials, sub-divisional office, the local tehsildar and local civic ward officer visited the affected site on Wednesday.

“No bunds have been opened. Even the removal of debris is slow. But there is still some time left for the apex court’s timeframe of 60 days to end. So we will have to wait,” said an official requesting anonymity, as he is not authorised to talk to the media. The team will submit its observations and recommendations to the suburban collector Nirmal Deshmukh on Thursday.

On January 31, the Supreme Court ordered the builder to restore the destroyed mangroves within 60 days. This involved opening all blocked culverts to allow sea water into the mangroves area and remove excess debris.

The report submitted by principal judge of the Sessions Court M L Tahilyani to the SC in December recorded the presence of debris, boulders, metal sheets and even paver blocks on the mangrove land that could be used for pitching the bund.

But residents who have keeping a close watch on the restoration work alleged that apart from removing debris from insignificant areas, none of the bunds were opened that would soon destroy 430 acre of mangrove stretch.