Times of India: Mumbai: Monday, July 31, 2017.
A government
resolution has declared Maharashtra Nature Park (MNP) in Mahim a 'protected
forest' under the Indian Forest Act 1927, found environment activist Stalin
Dayanand through an RTI application.
The GR,
issued by the revenue and forests department on March 16, 1991, also prohibits
the removal of any forest produce, breaking up or clearing for cultivation, for
building, for herding cattle, or for any other purpose, of any land in the said
protected forest.
"Neither
did the forest department take possession of the land nor did it submit before
the Supreme Court that over 150 acres of forest in MNP existed, when they were
required to do so in 1997," said Dayanand. "How can this protected
forest land be used for non-forest activities, according to MMRDA's revamp
plan. Did the MMRDA not know that they were in possession of forest land?"
The
government should hand over all the existing forests to the forest department
without allowing them to degrade further, suggested Dayanand, who has written
to the chief minister requesting him to facilitate the transfer and cancel all
plans to commercialize and redevelop the park. "Aarey has 4.8 lakh trees,
but the government claims it is not a forest. Lands like MNP and Aarey, which
were declared as forest, are up for grabs and being given away for projects
like Metro car shed, Force One, Metro Bhavan, Reliance Energy and Tata
Power," he alleged.