Maha sets up single empowered panel on mangroves

In a bid to expedite action in the cases of encroachment on mangrove lands, the Maharashtra government has set up a a single empowered committee for all seven coastal districts, a top Forest officer said Wednesday.

The move came against the backdrop of a directive given to the state government by the Bombay High Court on September 17 on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed on the issue.

The panel would be headed by Konkan divisional commissioner.

"The decision has been taken to avoid delays in taking action on encroachment on mangrove land and miscommunication between several agencies working for the same cause. The existing redressal system is being revamped to set up a single empowered committee for all the seven coastal districts in the state, to be headed by the Konkan divisional commissioner," said N Vasudevan, Chief Conservator of Forests (Mangroves Cell).

He said the committee will be responsible for the preservation and conservation of mangroves and also for restoration of reclaimed mangroves areas.

"Multiple agencies are involved in the management of mangroves. There are mangroves on notified or denotified land and also on private land. We, as a mangrove cell, do not have jurisdiction on all," the CCF said.

Vasudevan said that setting up of the coordinating body would help streamline the complaint resolution process.

"It results into waste of time in forwarding complaint to appropriate agency. We needed a coordinating body and we have it now," he said.

The CCF said a dedicated website and a toll free number will be made functional within the next two months, which he said will streamline the problems related to mangroves.

"Apart from working on conservation and restoration of mangroves, the newly-formed committee will also focus on surveillance which includes restricting vehicle movement, installing CCTVs, creating high resolution images of mangrove cover with the help of satellite in every six months.

"It also consist of planning action if any change in the pattern is observed, and submitting the action taken report to the high court in every three months," he said.

Following the directives of the HC, the state government discarded the existing committees for conservation of mangroves set up for Navi Mumbai, Mumbai and Mumbai suburbs.

The new committee, formed on October 16, will be jointly headed by Chief Conservator of Forests (Mangroves cell) and will have representatives of police commissioners in Navi Mumbai, Mumbai and Thane; of Superintendent of Police from Thane (rural), Raigad, Palghar,Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg; of municipal commissioners of all municipal corporations in these districts.

Representatives of various organisations working in this area like Navi Mumbai Environment Preservation Society, Bombay Environment Action group, Vanshakti (NGO), Director of BNHS and representative of Maharashtra Machhimar Kruti Sangh will also be part of the panel.