The Bombay high court on Monday directed the state government to set up a committee under the chairmanship of Konkan divisional commissioner for saving and restoring mangroves in Mumbai and Konkan.
The Bombay high court on Monday directed the state government to set up a committee under the chairmanship of Konkan divisional commissioner for saving and restoring mangroves in Mumbai and Konkan. The court also directed setting up of a grievance redressal forum for people to lodge complaints about illegal razing of mangroves in their area.
A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice A.A. Sayed was hearing a contempt petition filed by activist, Dayanand Stalin, claiming that despite another HC bench in 2013 having directed not to carry out construction work on wetlands without HC permission, in some parts of the western suburbs and in Thane area, mangroves were still being destroyed. The petitioner showed some photographs to the court to prove that mangroves were still being destroyed in Mumbai suburban and Thane areas. After going through the photographs, the court observed that it was very difficult for the petitioner to go everywhere and collect such evidence, and that the state had given responsibility of implementation of the court order to divisional commissioner of Konkan, who hardly took any steps to save the mangroves.
The HC then directed that the state government constitute a committee under the chairmanship of Konkan divisional commissioner within three weeks. It also directed that the committee put in place a grievance redressal mechanism comprising a website, toll-free numbers and WhatsApp numbers so that people could register their complaints. The committee would act on complaints received and upload action taken reports within three weeks from the date of receipt of complaint, the HC directed. It further said that the committee would not only take action against perpetrators but also restore mangroves in the area.
