Mumbai High Court Asks the Government to Amend the Plans to Save the Mangroves

Giving a big boost to the green environmentalist and the public the Mumbai high court asked the Maharashtra government to amend the plan laid out for the development projects around the mangrove. It also ordered state protection of five large mangrove patches in the suburbs

The court asked the government to come up with such a plan that does not destroy the mangroves but exists in harmony with the place. The court said "Nobody is contesting the necessity of development and infrastructure projects, but it does not have to be antagonistic to the preservation of mangroves." "You can do it in a manner in which there is minimal destruction of mangroves."

A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud is waiting to look into the new plans to be proposed by agencies like BMC, CIDCO and the Central Railway on August 22nd. The court was unhappy with the earlier plans and explanation of the government as to why it had failed to notify more than 50% of mangrove areas as "protected forests".

"Why can’t there be a sensible solution to the whole problem," asked the Chief Justice. "Has anybody even given a thought to protecting these large swathes of mangroves?".

There is a total of 5,938 hectares of mangrove areas along the state’s coast of which only 2,175 hectare has been declared by the state government as protected forest. The rest 3,780 hectare has been left for infrastructural and development projects.