I am writing about another instance of ongoing Mangrove destruction. This is happening in Dahisar a western suburb of Mumbai. Approximately 50 acres of Mangroves are being destroyed currently by the construction of a road that will completely surround this area. Another 400 odd acres are under threat. My purpose is to bring this issue to as public and powerful a platform as I can, to try and save the Mangroves, even though it may already be too late.
The current crisis has arisen as a direct fallout of the Supreme Court of India’s order allowing some old disused ‘bunds’ to be repaired. In its order the Court has stipulated that the height of the ‘bunds’ should not be raised and the repair should be carried out without any damage to the Mangroves. Armed with this permission from the highest Legal authority in the country, and in the guise of repairing the ‘bunds’, close to a thousand truck loads of construction debris and excavation debris is being dumped in the mangroves. A 60 ft road is being created to completely surround the mangroves and Mangroves have been cut. This has all been documented by members of a local residents forum and a local conservationist and environmental activist. Appeals to local authorities have thus far yielded nothing but lip-service. We believe that politicians, the police, the civil service have all been paid off. For close to three weeks 50-75 trucks a day have been dumping debris.
Local residents now face the threat of police arrest if we venture into the mangroves because they are private land and we can be charged with tresspassing. However, the destruction of the mangroves keeps happening and no one can be charged for breaking laws in place to protect them.
I would like to know if there is some way this organisation can help us in highlighting this issue and putting pressure on the government. Let me know and accordingly I can have someone write a well written article
Thank You.
