Hindustan Times: Mumbai: Wednesday, July 12, 2017.
Although the
Maharashtra government wants to plant 50 lakh mangrove saplings by 2019 to
revive degraded wetlands, more than 94,000 saplings planted by the state
mangrove cell at Charkop and Malwani have died in the past four years.
Rampant
mangrove destruction cases at least two per week are being recorded in the
state. The destruction continues despite Bombay high court orders and laws such
as the Environment Protection Act, 1986 and Indian Forest Act, 1927, which are
supposed to protect the mangrove ecosystem.
The state
planted mangrove saplings between 2013 and 2016 across 300 hectares in Mumbai
and Navi Mumbai. While 84,000 saplings were planted near Charkop village on 19
hectares all of which died, 20,000 saplings were planted near Manori village of
which 10,000 saplings died over the past four years . State officials said 85%
of the saplings planted in Navi Mumbai have survived.
“Some of the
saplings in these two areas (Manori and Charkop) have been removed by local
villagers, while others did not survive. We ensured that proper channels for
tidal water were made for these mangroves, but they failed to rejuvenate,” said
N Vasudevan, additional principal chief conservator of forest, state mangrove
cell. “On the other hand, saplings in Navi Mumbai either regenerated on their
own or survived due to our protection.”
Locals from
Charkop village said that they had warned the mangrove cell while plating
saplings in 2013.
“We had told
the officials that planting mangroves is not a good idea here because the soil
is hard and the plants require mudflats to survive. Four years later, not a
single sapling has survived,” said Vivek Keni, a Charkop village resident.
According to
the mangrove cell, the cost of plating [1,000] saplings in one hectare cost Rs2
lakh.
Commenting on
the poor survival rate of sapling, wetland conservationist Nandkumar Pawar
said, “These are not the only locations where mangrove saplings have died. We
are currently surveying all plantation sites and will compile a detailed
report.”
He recently
sought information on the status of mangrove saplings under the Right to
Information (RTI) Act.
Other
activists said the saplings were dying because of negligence.
“The first
problem is that the [mangrove] cell is understaffed and lacks people to monitor
these saplings. Secondly, the filed officers lack basic scientific
understanding or knowledge to restore such sites,” said Harish Pandey, activist
and secretary, New Link Road Residents’ Forum.
HT had
reported last week that 50,000 saplings had been planted in Airoli, Vashi and a
few other parts of Navi Mumbai before the monsoon. The mangrove cell wants to
plant one lakh saplings in October and November and another 19 lakh in 2018.
The state also intends to plant 30 lakh saplings in 2019 to restore a large
portion of mangroves ecosystem lost in the past 10 years.
2 arrested
for dumping debris at Malwani mangroves
Mangrove cell
officials from Mumbai (West) arrested two people for illegally dumping debris
on a 100 square metre plot at Malwani on Tuesday.
“Locals
informed our officers that a truck had entered the protected mangrove forests.
During interrogation, the accused told us that they were hired by a local builder.
We are investigating the matter,” said Makarand Ghodke, assistant conservator
of forest, Mumbai Mangrove Conservation Unit.