Twin court orders arm SGNP against quarries and encroachers…..Stuti Shukla
Hills get forest land tag, work on boundary wall set to resume
Hills get forest land tag, work on boundary wall set to resume
After close to 35 years of dispute, hills spread over 53 acres of land in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, home to stone quarries for over three decades, will finally be protected as forest land with decks cleared for completion of a wall under construction around the parks boundary.
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the land just off the Western Express Highway, between Borivali and Dahisar, is forest land and thus cannot be permitted for use by quarry operators.
Further, following orders from the Bombay High Court, the 98-km boundary wall, work on which began in 2002 to protect it from encroachments and quarrying, will now be erected around this stretch. So far, only 26 km has been completed, in parts, along Yeoor, Malad, Mulund, and Borivali. The Environment Ministry had sanctioned Rs 10 crore in 2002 for the walls Malad-Kandivli stretch.
Assistant Conservator of Forests A N Ghewari said work has not progressed as per schedule because of encroachments along the hillocks, from where the wall will have to pass, and lack of funds available with the SGNP and the forest department. We exhausted the Rs 10 crore sanctioned by the government and have asked for an additional Rs 5 crore. If that comes on time, we will be able to finish 40 km by the end of March 2011, said Ghewari.
The Supreme Court last Thursday ruled the 53 acres was deemed forest land under the Maharashtra Private Forest Act, 1975, and therefore not available for quarrying. Quarrying by K N Shaikh and Company from 1970 to 1997 has eaten away a significant part of the hills.
Till 1975, it was private land belonging to the company. That year, the state acquired the land for handover to SGNP, following which a case was filed by the quarry owners in the High Court claiming they had had quarrying rights on the property for years. The HC ruled that it was not private land after which they appealed in the SC, which ruled the same.
Quarrying had stopped in 1997 following a HC stay, the land had remained in dispute. Workers in these quarries continue to stay on the premises of the park.