Bombay HC raps Mira Bhayander civic body over mangrove cutting plans
Shibu Thomas, Times News Network, June 13 2017
The Bombay high court on Tuesday rapped the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation saying it seemed to be only interested in removing mangroves. The court was hearing an application filed by MBMC to hack mangroves to clean 12 creeks that would affect over 2.85 lakh square metres of mangroves.
The bench headed by Justice Vidyasagar Kanade said that the corporation seemed to be only interested in removing mangroves so that unscrupulous builders can usurp land. The court has asked the civic body to conduct a survey to find out how many mangroves required to be cut to clean the creeks of debris and garbage before monsoon.
Last week, the court had declined permission to cut mangroves and had asked MBMC to only trim them in unavoidable circumstances. In October 2005, the HC while hearing a petition by BEAG had banned the hacking of mangroves as well the dumping of debris on mangrove plots. Subsequently, it had said that permission of the court would have to be sought in case of public utility and development works that had to be carried out in mangrove areas.
BEAG’s lawyers told the court that the MBMC could follow the example of BMC which cleans the mangrove areas on Mithi river using special machines mounted on barges. The HC has scheduled further hearing of the case on June 19.