Maharashtra govt "summarily ignored" real estate development on mangroves land but demolished slums

Open area, where once mangroves stood

Facts have come to light pointing towards how the Maharashtra Forest Department has moved quickly to "implement" a High Court order, removing slum "encroachments" off Mumbai coast on forest land, while summarily ignoring several other big buildings adjacent to the mangroves that existed in the same area, built after October 6, 2005.
According to the Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan (GBGBA), which is spearheading to the struggle of slum-dwellers' housing rights, the targets were the so-called "informal settlements" in Malvani No 8, Malad. These were demolished on June 4 and 6 this year in the name of "protecting mangroves". In all 600 houses were demolished.
Carried out by the the Mangroves Cell of the Maharashtra Forest Department, it had submitted before the High Court that land within 50 meters from the mangroves land would be declared "protected", and no construction activity would be permitted after October 6, 2005.
Led by well-known social activist Medha Patkar, GBGBA has said in a statement, "Shack dwellers of Malavni No 8 have been living in that area pre 1995, 1997 and so on. Adjacent to their settlement, there lies a park whose boundaries appear to have been extended 2015 from what was there in 2005."
It adds, "The distance between the pole erected by forest department and the boundary of the park is certainly less than 50 metres and still the construction is allowed to take place."
It further points out, "Just adjacent to the park is another area which belongs to the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), as per the description on the board erected on the land by the authority. The pillar that was erected by the forest department is broken. The area is lying vacant as of now and a part of it is being used as a dumping ground."
GBGBA adds, "The year 2005 Google earth map shows that no structure was there in that year on the land of MHADA and part of it was covered by mangroves", while in the year 2015 "on that very land of MHADA there seen tall buildings and the part where mangroves used to be there in the year 2005, seen cleared and filled with debris."
GBGBA castigates the Mangroves Protection Cell for ignoring "all the above cases, and have their bulldozers clear houses of the poor just adjacent to these structures."
Meanwhile, the collector, Mumbai Suburban District, who chairs the District Coastal Zone Monitoring Committee, has submitted a report which highlight big structures that came after the year 2005 on the mangroves land. Yet, says GBGBA says,"three months have passed, neither any action taken by the collector not any response received to this report till date."
It says, "The question is, where will these shack dwellers go and live? Given their poverty, they cannot afford to buy a house in city like Mumbai. If they rent a house, it will consume all their earnings."
"Doesn’t the government have the responsibility to think about this section of the society which comprises more than 50% population of the city, whose hard work make the city functioning, before spending Rs 432 crores on a park or Rs 12,000 crores on coastal road?", it asks.

Comments

When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

RP Gupta a scapegoat to help Govt of India manage fallout of Adani case in US court?

RP Gupta, a retired 1987-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, has found himself at the center of a growing controversy. During my tenure as the Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar (1997–2012), I often interacted with him. He struck me as a straightforward officer, though I never quite understood why he was never appointed to what are supposed to be top-tier departments like industries, energy and petrochemicals, finance, or revenue.

Environmental report raises alarm: Sabarmati one of four rivers with nonylphenol contamination

A new report by Toxics Link , an Indian environmental research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund , a global non-profit headquartered in New York, has raised the alarm that Sabarmati is one of five rivers across India found to contain unacceptable levels of nonylphenol (NP), a chemical linked to "exposure to carcinogenic outcomes, including prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women."

PharmEasy: The only online medical store which revises prices upwards after confirming the order

For senior citizens — especially those without a family support system — ordering medicines online can be a great relief. Shruti and I have been doing this for the last couple of years, and with considerable success. We upload a prescription, receive a verification call from a doctor, and within two or three days, the medicines are delivered to our doorstep.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Revisiting Gijubhai: Pioneer of child-centric education and the caste debate

It was Krishna Kumar, the well-known educationist, who I believe first introduced me to the name — Gijubhai Badheka (1885–1939). Hailing from Bhavnagar, known as the cultural capital of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, Gijubhai, Kumar told me during my student days, made significant contributions to the field of pedagogy — something that hasn't received much attention from India's education mandarins. At that time, Kumar was my tutorial teacher at Kirorimal College, Delhi University.

A sector under siege? War and real estate: Navigating uncertainty in India's expanding market

I was a little surprised when I received an email alert from a top real estate consultant, Anarock Group , titled "Exploring War’s Effects on Indian Real Estate—When Conflict Meets Concrete," authored by its regional director and head of research, Dr. Prashant Thakur. I had thought that the business would wholeheartedly support what is considered a strong response to the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor.

Search This Blog