Times of India: Navi Mumbai: Sunday, 31 August 2025.
The National Centre for
Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) completed the ground-truthing exercise
of the controversial Lotus Lake at Nerul in Navi Mumbai. The state govt
confirmed that it is a wetland in response to a Right to Information (RTI) Act
query. This confirmation counters CIDCO's assertion that Lotus Lake is not a
wetland. Meanwhile, local residents, led by activist Sunil Agarwal, stage
protest marches every Sunday for the last couple of months to save the Lotus
Lake from being buried under debris as CIDCO continued its dumping activity.
NatConnect Foundation Director B N Kumar filed the RTI application, highlighting that the State Environment Department referred to Lotus Lake as a "wetland" in its response uploaded to the RTI website on August 26. The state environment department informed NatConnect Foundation's RTI query that the "brief documentation" process of the wetland, along with other water bodies in the state, is ongoing, and the NCSCM report is pending.
Nilesh Potedar, public information officer and scientist-2 at the environment department, stated that the report will be sent to the District Wetland Committee. Kumar inquired about the status of notifying the wetland, noting that the NCSCM, tasked with mapping and documenting state wetlands, surveyed Lotus Lake, Panje, NRI, and TS Chanakya, in addition to Kharghar wetlands.
Environmental groups raised concerns that CIDCO partially landfilled the wetland with debris from the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA). In response, Kumar lodged complaints with the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MOEFCC), the chief minister, and the State Environment Department regarding the landfill.
The MOEFCC addressed the issue with the environment department, which then requested status reports on the lake from the Thane district collector and CIDCO. CIDCO maintained that Lotus Lake is a man-made waterbody and previously allotted it to Indian Airlines. Despite Forest Minister Ganesh Naik's directive on June 26, giving CIDCO a week to act, the organisation has not removed the debris from the wetland.
Quoting an earlier response from the MOEFCC, Kumar stated that CIDCO is not the appropriate authority to determine the status of wetlands. According to the Ramsar Convention definition, wetlands are "areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres.
NatConnect Foundation Director B N Kumar filed the RTI application, highlighting that the State Environment Department referred to Lotus Lake as a "wetland" in its response uploaded to the RTI website on August 26. The state environment department informed NatConnect Foundation's RTI query that the "brief documentation" process of the wetland, along with other water bodies in the state, is ongoing, and the NCSCM report is pending.
Nilesh Potedar, public information officer and scientist-2 at the environment department, stated that the report will be sent to the District Wetland Committee. Kumar inquired about the status of notifying the wetland, noting that the NCSCM, tasked with mapping and documenting state wetlands, surveyed Lotus Lake, Panje, NRI, and TS Chanakya, in addition to Kharghar wetlands.
Environmental groups raised concerns that CIDCO partially landfilled the wetland with debris from the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA). In response, Kumar lodged complaints with the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MOEFCC), the chief minister, and the State Environment Department regarding the landfill.
The MOEFCC addressed the issue with the environment department, which then requested status reports on the lake from the Thane district collector and CIDCO. CIDCO maintained that Lotus Lake is a man-made waterbody and previously allotted it to Indian Airlines. Despite Forest Minister Ganesh Naik's directive on June 26, giving CIDCO a week to act, the organisation has not removed the debris from the wetland.
Quoting an earlier response from the MOEFCC, Kumar stated that CIDCO is not the appropriate authority to determine the status of wetlands. According to the Ramsar Convention definition, wetlands are "areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres.
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