Highly nitrogenous dung and acidic urine of the illegally-stabled animals have left about a thousand trees dead
Virat A singh @timesgroup.com
The highly nitrogenous dung and the acidic urine of illegallystabled horses have left about a thousand trees dead in Matherans Dasturi Naka,some councilors in the hill station have alleged.
Dasturi Naka is the last point till which motor vehicles are allowed,beyond which tourists and supplies are ferried by horses to the hill station.
The councilors allege that a number of horses have been stabled illegally in the forest land near Dasturi Naka and other places,killing at least a thousand trees till now.According to the councilors,when the toxic mixture harms the root of the trees,they first lose their leaves,before drying up and falling.
The councilors have now approached the Matheran Eco-sensitive Zone Monitoring Committee,demanding its immediate intervention.
We dont want to ruin anybodys business, said Manoj Khedekar,the Matheran councilor who has been spearheading the movement.But there is no denying that the major reason for thousands of trees dying over a period of years in Matheran is the horse dung and urine collecting due to illegal stabling.We have been showing the gradual devastation to authorities,including the Collectors office and the Forest department,but they are just not bothered.
Khedekar said horse dung,which is rich in nitrogen,and urine,which is highly acidic,are harmful for the trees when they collect around a trees root.
Several horses are currently illegally stabled mainly near Dasturi Naka, said Khedekar.The handlers find a tree with shade and stable the horses.After a while,the tree dries up and dies.They kept going deeper and deeper into the forest,leaving behind a huge stretch of barren land.And though this does not happen overnight,it is a problem that cannot be neglected.
Khedekar said that while Matheran hasaround460licencedhorsesand350 stables,over 1,000 horses operate illegally in Matheran.
In the early days,it did not seem to be much of a problem as horse owners from Neral brought their horses in the morning and left in the evening.But now a majority of the horses are stabled in the forests of Matheran.
This is not the only issue dogging the tiny hill station.
Trees are already under threat as contractors have begun to mine soil from the hill station itself to relay the mud roads after the monsoon every year,exposing their roots and killing them gradually.
The destruction of green cover here will be a huge disaster as the entire Navi Mumbai region depends on Matheran for drinking water, said an informed resident who did not want to be named.
Former chief secretary V Ranganathan,who is the chairman for the monitoring committee,confirmed the problem.
It is true that trees are being harmed due to horse dung and also that there are more horses in Matheran than required, said Ranganathan.The police have been asked to ensure that only licenced horses are allowed to operate.We have also asked the municipality to come up with more stables to house the horses and develop ways of collection and converting it into manure.
The toxic mixture of horse dung and urine harms the roots of the trees.They first lose their leaves,before drying up (circled) and falling
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