State: Status of mangrove land in Goregaon changed

MUMBAI: The state government informed Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday that the status of 400 acres of land with mangroves at Pahari village in Goregaon was modified to allow development, as per modifications made in April 2018 to the Development Control Regulations (DCR) of 1991. Certain portions of the reserved land have been allotted to the Metro car shed and the Maharashtra National Law University’s (MNLU) campus. The matter will be heard next on August 5.

A public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Conservation Action Trust (CAT) drew attention to 400 acres that are reserved as residential and special development zone in the Development Plan of 2034.

CAT’S advocate Sharan Jagtiani informed a division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Madhav Jamdar on Tuesday that in 1996, the ministry of environment and forest had given clearance to a residential and recreational project in the area, which led to large-scale destruction of mangroves between 1996 and 2002. Following this, a committee confirmed in 2003 that debris had been dumped on the mangroves. A second committee submitted in 2018 that no mangroves had been destroyed after 2005. The PIL sought directions to restore the land to a green zone by replanting mangroves.

Advocate Dr Milind Sathe appeared for an intervenor who owns the land and submitted that the PIL was not maintainable as DCR 1991 had been modified in April 2018, opening the land up for development purposes.

In light of the submissions, the court has asked all parties to file affidavits regarding their stand within a week and directed the petitioner to file a rejoinder in three days.