Thane waterfront contractor destroys mangroves, booked

THE THANE CIVIC BODY, HOWEVER, CLAIMS THAT THEY HAVEN’T RECEIVED ANY COMPLAINT FROM THE POLICE

THANE: A case was registered against a Thane civic body-appointed contractor of Gaimukh waterfront development project after the district authority complained that he was destroying mangroves and violating coastal regulation zone (CRZ) norms.

The case was registered with the Kasarvadavli police station on Friday, under the Environment Protection Act. The district authority claimed the civic body was equally responsible as the work was handed over to the contractor by the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC). This comes after activist Rohit Joshi on May 18 complained to the tehsildar’s office, following which a case was registered. The forest department, mangrove cell, district authority, revenue department and TMC then conducted a joint survey of the project and found the mangroves on Gandhi Plot near Nagla Bunder were destroyed.

The mangrove cell said the Avicennia variety of mangroves was destroyed by the contractor and the district appointed the Balkum Circle officer to register a case against the contractor. TMC has undertaken the development and the funding of the Gaimukh waterfront project. The project is being implemented in coordination with the Maritime board. Prashan Khapde, Balkum Circle officer, said, “Several more cases will be registered for this destruction of mangroves. After Joshi’s complaint, we did a panchanama of the place and found that the mangroves along the creek were filled illegally.”

Khapde said the contractor had taken no permission to fill these mangroves. “The forest Act was also violated around 50m away from this plot, near Nagla forest.” TMC however claims that they haven’t received any complaint from the police. A TMC officer said, “We have barricaded the area where the work of the waterfront project is being undertaken. The contractor had written to the Kasarvadavli police station informing that few other elements were carrying out illegal filling of mangroves near our site. The police had given a remark that they will take action after they get a complaint from the revenue department. We have not destroyed any mangroves for the project.”

The high court in July had asked TMC to stop reclaiming mangrove areas and dumping debris for the waterfront project. Joshi said, “This illegal filling of mangroves will lead to flooding and soon we will face a Kerala type situation.” An officer of the Kasarvadali police station said, “We have registered a case against the contractor under section 15 and 19 of the Environment Protection Act of 1986 for illegally filling mangroves.”