20 ha mangroves razed, 17 arrested

MUMBAI:THE state mangrove cell arrested 17 people on Thursday for dumping debris in mangroves near Malwani, Malad. The Mumbai Mangrove Conservation Unit (MMCU) also seized five trucks that were used to dump the debris.

MMCU officers had on Wednesday arrested one person in relation to the dumping of debris. Through him, they got information on how the mangroves were being systematically destroyed.

“We learnt that the group is part of a larger debris mafia nexus, and over the past week had dumped more than 1,000 trucks filled with debris, killing thousands of mangrove trees in Malwani,” said Makarand Ghodke, assistant conservator of forest, state mangrove cell, who led the operation along with range forest officers – Mayur Bothe, Prashant Deshmukh and Prakash Choudhary.

The area of the mangrove forest along Lagoon Road that was destroyed is 20 hectares, equivalent to 13 times the size of Wankhede Stadium (1.48 hectare). Around 2am on Thursday morning, a team of 22 MMCU officers, dressed in civil clothes, kept vigil at the site. “We used private vehicles, and parked them at all exit points of the wetland. Over a span of two hours, all five trucks were at the site, and we could arrest them,” said Ghodke.

The 17 accused will be produced before the Borivli magistrate court on Friday.”

The mangrove cell will begin restoration work at the site. They also plan to construct a compound wall at the site and five other sites. “The debris mafia removes mangroves and fills the area with debris, selling the plots to encroachers,” said Ghodke.

HT had reported on October 7 that the city witnessed a 70% rise in mangrove destruction cases this year as compared to the last two years.