Salt pans of Mumbai may disappear soon

Vast tracts of over 5,500 acres of salt pans within the city might disappear soon as a proposal to convert them to housing projects for displaced squatters is in the offing.

Though not quite as beautiful as Bolivia's highest Uyuni saltpans, or reportedly the world's largest Makgadikgadi saltpans of Botswana, Mumbai's saltpans do stretch like white deserts visible often from rail tracks, glistening in the setting sun.

"Salt pans in Mumbai, unlike elsewhere, are essentially an urban entity and as of now are worked on by less than 500 labourers," according to Deputy Salt Commissioner S Mukherjee.

"If the lands are used for development, salt production which is about 1.2 lakh tonnes annually, from these areas will naturally also disappear," Mukherjee said.

However, Mukherjee stressed, "There is absolutely no cause for concern...There is an abundance of salt production across the country, especially in the neighbouring Gujarat whose resources could be drawn upon.

"The main issue here is that of ownership. The lands had been leased out centuries ago to private parties purely for salt manufacture. Today most manufacturers are claiming that the lands are their personal properties," he said.

At present the use of saltpans by government is held up following disputes over ownership of the lands and the matter is being pursued in court.

Over the years, Mumbai has lost several acres of saltpans to developers and in the 1950's two plots of about 120 acres (of the Bharpur Salt Works near Vikhroli) and 150 acres (from the Mahudwala saltpans) were used up for residential purposes.

"The saltpans now being looked to by the Ministry of Urban Development spread across central and suburban Mumbai in the areas of Bhandup, Vadala, Trombay, Thane and Vikhroli," Mukherjee said.

"These are worked on mainly by transient labour and unlike in Gujarat, no one really lives on them now... These are in-land pans and they do not reflect any rural flavour," he said.

"However, as some overlap along creeks they may have some visiting birds including flamingos," the deputy salt commissioner said.

"The Gujarat saltpans fall along the sea coast and are abundant in natural flora and fauna."

Mumbai's saltpans, however, comprise the few last bits of this overcrowded city's open spaces.

Environmentalists here are worried the city will lose its buffer against sea erosion and flooding.

The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), an over century-old research body, feels that with fears of flooding and 26/7, developers should not use saltpans as "these act as buffers in preventing ocean flooding...They absorb the rush of water from the sea".

BNHS Chief Scientist, Deepak Apte, said, "Climate change is no longer a buzz word and maintaining ecological balance is essential to good health and progress."

Environmentalist and editor of Sanctuary Magazine, Bittu Sehgal, is even more vehement. "Usurping saltpans for construction is asking for trouble, in an era of climate change. These saltpans need to be returned to mangrove status urgently to counter rising sea levels and to protect the vulnerable coastal population of Mumbai from the potentially killing impact of tidal waves."

The coastal region of Bombay Presidency, more particularly the Konkan region, was blessed with the vital ingredients of manufacture of salt and hence from very ancient times salt has been manufactured here in large quantities.

Abundant output came from Salsette, Konkan, Ratnagiri and Bombay districts.

Traditionally salt came to be weighed from the mid-nineteen century when it was measured with rods to ascertain its quantity and quality.

The first definite record of salt production was from Italy although the Phoenicians must have traded in it much earlier, according to historians.

In India, the first recorded instance of government leasing out its saltworks was in 1758, when it placed a notice to lease out its Trombay works for 10 years.

The main salt-manufacturing centres prior to 1661 when Portugal ceded Bombay to the British crown were the islands of Bombay and Salsette, Caranjah, Pen, Vasai, Malvan, Vengrula and Konkan.

Last month State Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh met with Union Ministers to iron out hurdles in the transfer of saltpan lands for development purposes.