Can you imagine a situation where a Governmental organization is not happy that mangroves are being declared as protected forests?

It is plain to everyone concerned that the Salt department which is objecting to some areas being declared as mangrove forests is acting at the behest of greedy developers and land sharks who want to exploit these pristine mangrove forests as soon as they are declared as ‘salt pan land’.

Headline: Salt dept in tussle with mangrove cell. 24 Jun 2014 Hindustan Times (Mumbai) Nikhil M Ghanekar nikhil.ghanekar@hindustantimes.com

Unhappy with notification of land between Kanjurmarg and Mulund as mangrove forests, Salt dept asks cell to not disturb salt pan layouts

THE STATE GOVERNMENT HAD MUTATED SALT PAN LAND SUO MOTU TO NOTIFY IT AS MANGROVE FOREST.
HK SHARMA, deputy commissioner, salt department

MUMBAI: The salt department has questioned the notification of erstwhile salt pan land as mangrove forests.

In a letter that came with an enclosed copy of the state government’s July 7, 2008 notification relating to giving the status of protected forests to mangroves, the salt department has asked the mangrove cell to “not disturb the layouts of salt pans or the salt manufacturing activity” on the stretch between Kanjurmarg and Mulund.

The letter goes on to state that there should be “rectification of records” to return 1,977 acres back to the status of salt pans.

The land stretching between Kanjurmarg and Mulund is currently marked as reserved forest. The letter was first sent to the officer of land records, forest department, and the mangrove cell has been asked to reply to it.

The letter has piqued officials of the mangrove cell, who feel that the salt department has not looked at the fact that salt production has stopped in several of these areas and hence mangroves have regenerated. “No salt manufacturing activity has been seen in areas where mangroves are currently notified as reserved forest. Before they were notified, themangroves were mapped with satellites and active salt manufacturing plots were deleted,” said N Vasudevan, chief conservator of forest, mangrove cell. The forest department notified close to 3,000 acres of mangroves in the eastern suburbs following the Bombay High Court’s October 2005 order that declared mangroves as protected forests.

Earlier in January, suburban collector Sanjay Deshmukh had passed an order stating that nearly 3,000 acres of salt pan land belongs to the state government as salt production has stopped.

The salt department though had challenged this order in the office of Konkan divisional commissioner and currently the ownership of land is under dispute.

HK Sharma, deputy commissioner, salt department told HT that the state government holds the lease for 5,430 acres of salt pans across Mumbai till October 2016. The salt department had also filed a writ application in the Bombay HC three years ago, challenging the notification of salt pan land as mangrove forests, but the matter has not come up for hearing yet.

“The state government had mutated salt pan l and suo motu to notify it as mangrove forest,” said Sharma. Praveen Pardeshi, principal secretary, forest department said, “We have followed the HC’s directives and mangroves have been notified as forests to maintain the ecological balance.”

CURRENT STATUS OF MANGROVES: RESERVED FORESTS

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“No salt manufacturing activity has been seen in areas where mangroves are notified as reserved forest.”
N VASUDEVAN, chief conservator of forest, mangrove cell

WHAT DOES THE MANGROVE CELL WANT TO DO?

It wants to convert the reserved forests into marine protected areas

WHAT WILL THIS NEW STATUS BRING?

More legal protection against diversion of land for other use

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF MANGROVES?

They act as buffers against tidal incursion and flash floods. They are also ecologically important because the forests host species of marine life, birds and animals.