As many as 4,550 mangroves spread across 4.5 hectares in Uran have been destroyed due to construction carried out by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), the Forest Department has said.
A letter from Regional Forest Officer B.D. Gaikwad, responding to a query by local fishermen’s leader Ramdas Koli, said the “death” of the mangroves was due to landfill work for the JNPT’s Container Terminal 4.
“It has come to our notice during our inspection that 4,550 mangrove plants on 4.5 hectares have dried up due to the non-availability of sea water. These plants do not seem to be alive,” the letter said.
Nandkumar Pawar, founder-director of Shree Ekavira Aai Pratishtan, said, this was one of the “largest massacres of mangroves” in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. “After Parsik Hills, which were destroyed due to reckless quarrying, it seems to be the turn of mangroves in the carelessness regarding the environment,” he said. He demanded an FIR against JNPT officials.
Department to probe
N. Vasudevan, Chief Conservator of Forests (Mangroves Cell), said the department will have to check if the destruction of mangroves was in the area awarded to the JNPT for construction. “We will find that out and further action will be decided,” Mr. Vasudevan said.
Mr. Pawar had earlier complained to the Konkan Divisional Commissioner, alleging encroachment by the JNPT outside the area allotted to it. “The reclamations are happening all over Uran taluka on mangroves and on wetlands despite a stay order from the NGT dated October 11, 2013, that no reclamation should be undertaken on fishing land of the traditional fishing community,” he had said.
The NGT, in an order on February 27, 2015, directed that all fishing sites that were reclaimed be restored. An appeal in this regard is pending with the Supreme Court, yet the violations are continuing, Mr. Pawar said.
The JNPT did not respond to a questionnaire sent by The Hindu .
