Mid-Day:
Mumbai: Saturday, October 05, 2019.
Did
Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) officials lie to the Bombay High Court? This
is the question director of Vanashakti NGO, Stalin D, has raised. The
environment activist had filed an RTI application seeking details about SGNP
land encroached by quarries and agriculture, as per a survey carried out by the
forest department as well as based on the officials' own admission in the HC.
And yet, park authorities' reply to Stalin stated they have no record of the
information sought.
In
the writ petition on encroachment being heard in the HC, SGNP officials had
reportedly submitted an affidavit stating over 772 hectares was encroached on
by quarries and agriculture.
Stalin
had filed the RTI query in June. To that, the Public Information Officer of
SGNP replied: "The application was sent to the Land and Survey section of
SGNP, and they have informed that they could not find any such information. We
won't be able to provide the same."
A
copy of the HC order related to SGNP in mid-day's possession has all the
information regarding the encroachments, quarrying and farming. Point number 5
in it reads: "It was stated in the affidavit that a rough eye estimate of
the encroachments was 78,000/86,000 huts... The Satellite Survey Report of the
Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad, state there was an encroachment of 772.82
hectares in SGNP... 187 hectares of land are under actual encroachments by
hutments and 772.82 hectares is encroached upon by quarries and agriculture
(sic)."
"SGNP's
records are not in order. Even information submitted to the high court was
without proper basis and is, understandably, missing today. Crucial documents
have gone missing..." Stalin said.