MUMBAI: Green activists, who have experienced the insensitivity of ground-level officials to the city's environmental concerns, are sceptical of the government's commitment to the cause.
Questioning the ability of the mangrove cell to protect or expand mangrove cover, Debi Goenka, executive trustee, Conservation Action Trust, said while it is ideally supposed to have 37 people on board, it has less than half the number. "I have learnt that the forest department has taken an internal decision that it will not look into the protection of mangroves. The forest department does nothing but leaves mangrove protection to the revenue and the collector's departments. So, the question that arises is, what will this cell really do?" said Goenka.
Agreed Harish Pandey, secretary, New Link Road Residents' Forum. "The mangrove cell shouldn't be a toothless committee. It should succeed in restoring the original position of the land," he said. Pandey alleged that as far as the western suburbs were concerned, a large part of the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) area has been reclaimed and used for non-forest activities, in contempt of the Bombay High Court Order.
Pandey said despite several complaint letters and subsequent directives issued by theMaharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) to the collector, the municipal commissioner and the police commissioner, illegal activities like tourist bus parking, sand cleaning and small-scale industrial activities continue. The ground reality has changed little, he claimed. "We as citizens' groups are ready to extend co-operation to any body to conserve and protect the CRZ and mangroves," he said.
When N Vasudevan, chief conservator of forests was contacted he said, "We are short-staffed now. So the responsibility of protecting mangroves is with the territorial division i.e. the regular forest division. But we will aid them in protecting the mangroves. Our role for now will be mainly expansion of mangrove cover."
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