RTI: State gave Mahim nature park protected forest tag in 1991

MUMBAI: A

government resolution

has declared

Maharashtra Nature Park

(MNP) in

Mahim

a ‘protected forest’ under the

Indian Forest Act

1927, found environment activist Stalin Dayanand through an

RTI application

.

The GR, issued by the revenue and forests department on March 16, 1991, also prohibits the removal of any forest produce, breaking up or clearing for cultivation, for building, for herding cattle, or for any other purpose, of any land in the said protected forest.

“Neither did the forest department take possession of the land nor did it submit before the Supreme Court that over 150 acres of forest in MNP existed, when they were required to do so in 1997,” said Dayanand. “How can this protected forest land be used for non-forest activities, according to MMRDA’s revamp plan. Did the MMRDA not know that they were in possession of forest land?”

The government should hand over all the existing forests to the forest department without allowing them to degrade further, suggested Dayanand, who has written to the chief minister requesting him to facilitate the transfer and cancel all plans to commercialize and redevelop the park. “Aarey has 4.8 lakh trees, but the government claims it is not a forest. Lands like MNP and Aarey, which were declared as forest, are up for grabs and being given away for projects like Metro car shed, Force One, Metro Bhavan, Reliance Energy and Tata Power,” he alleged.