Thane mangroves are rapidly destroyed at Diva, activist sends urgent complaint to state | Navi Mumbai News

NAVI MUMBAI: Member of the high court appointed Mangroves Protection Committee, D Stalin, of Vanashakti NGO, has written an urgent complaint to various state government authorities stating that the mangroves at Sabe village in Diva area are rapidly being destroyed by encroachers. An urgent intervention of the state is required in this matter, otherwise all the mangroves will soon vanish here, Stalin added.

“Rapid and massive loss of mangroves, wetlands, CRZ areas in Mumbra, Diva in Thane district has happened. Hundreds of encroachments have sprouted up after illegal reclamation of the mangrove land. We are particularly concerned with the Desai Creek and Mumbra creek areas. The village of Sabe in Diva will see a complete elimination of all mangroves in it within the next two months,” he has said in the complaint.

Already huge areas have been lost. “We have taken photos of multiple locations where the destruction is happening. The election period is being used to destroy mangroves. The government machinery is nowhere to be seen. Literally every construction is happening on mangroves or within 50 mtrs of it,” said Stalin .

Dumping of debris, mud, garbage is rampant at multiple locations. The additional principal chief conservator of forests (mangrove cell), SV Ramarao, told TOI that they will first verify all the aspects of Stalin’s complaint and then comment on the matter.

RTI activist from Navi Mumbai, Anarjit Chauhan, remarked: “Election duty work must not be given to forest officials, because they have to deal with the important and sensitive issue of protecting our forests, wetlands, CRZ areas among others. The land sharks take advantage of the absence of range forest officials to further destroy the environment. The priority of the state should be to save the environment.”

Stalin added that the state mangrove cell had also recently asked the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Center (MRSAC) to send satellite images of all the mangrove areas in Maharashtra, in order to study as to where all the sea plants have been destroyed or encroached. This will also help in their protection, provided there is government and political will to do so.