Navi Mumbai: On today’s world mangrove day, activists and environmental lovers in Navi Mumbai have a reason to celebrate it.
Under pressure from the High Court, various government institutions have initiated the process of telling more than 1,450 hectares of mangrove forests as a reserve forest in the Mumbai Metropolitan region (MMR).
To start, CidCo will submit 219 hectares of mangrove stretches in Kamothe and Panvel to the income department to be transferred to the forest department for conservation.
Virendra Tiwari, Head of the main additional forest conservator, announced this mangrove transfer in an online discussion organized by the NATConnect Foundation NGO.
MMRDA has also agreed to transfer 300 hectares of mangrove forests, said Tiwari.
Speaking in the session, Tiwari said JNPT had also agreed to the principle to hand over mangroves below it after ensuring through high-resolution mapping by the remote sensing application center (MRSAC).
The port has confirmed in RTI’s response to Natconnect that he has more than 913 hectares of mangroves under his jurisdiction.
The income secretary level meeting, the Department of Forest and Environment, was attended by two urban development secretaries, had met on July 13 to review the transfer status of mangrove.
In the relevant development, Deputy Vice CidCo and Managing Director Dr.
Sanjay Mukherjee had asked his team to quickly move mangroves to the Ministry of Forestry without further delay.
Mangrove exchanges in Kharghar, Uran, Ulwe and other aircraft will be submitted at a short stage.
Submitting the Keynote address, BNHS Director Dr.
Bivash Pandaav appreciated the pressure of activists in officials to keep them on their toes.
“Otherwise, the system tends to relax,” observed.