Centre Dilutes Norms For Two City Projects
The NDA government at the Centre has quietly diluted provisions for compensation of mangroves to be destroyed by two major infrastructure projects in the city.
It has done away with a mangrove park near the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport and cut down the volume of mangroves to be replanted in compensation for the coastal road project. Mangroves are considered critical for coastal bio-diversity as well as protecting coasts from sea surges.
Even last year, authorities had promised to convert Waghivali island in Panvel creek into a mangrove lagoon. In fact, the airport got the go-ahead after the government offered to compensate for lost mangroves.
The National Board for Wildlife, in its 34th meeting last month, agreed to waive the condition of a mangrove sanctuary . The waiver came on a state government recommendation that cited a Bombay Natural History Society study stating that areas “adjoining NMIA site should be made unattractive to birds in view of aircraft, human and airport safety“. The NDA government at the state also offered to declare the Thane creek as a flamingo sanctuary for conservation.
Aghast activists pointed out that a sanctuary has been declared in an existing mangrove area. “What about the 110 hectares of mangroves that will be cleared for the airport? The Thane creek is already home to 1 lakh flamingos. By declaring it a sanctuary , the government is not adding to the existing mangroves. How does the government plan to compensate the loss?“ asked one. D Stalin, director of the NGO Vanashakti, said mangroves are designed by nature to protect the coast from furies of the sea. “It is a natural barrier. Developing agencies cannot decide where it will be grown. Nature decides. This is not a plantation,“ he said.
In another blow to mangroves, the Union environment and forests ministry in its June 25 draft notification to allow reclamation for a coastal road has said if “construction of such road is passing through mangroves or likely to damage mangroves, three times the number of man groves destroyed or cut shall be replanted“.
Advocate Godfrey Pimenta pointed out the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification 2011 stipulates that in Greater Mumbai, classified as area that requires special consideration, five times the number of mangroves destroyedcut during a construction process shall be replanted. The government also did not specify a location for replantation.
Activist P K Das said the detailed project report for the coastal road shows that the mangroves in Malad creek will be completely built over.
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