Written by: Express News Service
2 min readMumbaiDec 14, 2013 01:44 AM IST
First published on: Dec 14, 2013 at 01:44 AM IST
The mangrove cell of the forest department Friday found Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) violations at private mangrove areas in Gorai where the Essel Group has an amusement park.
Officials found medium-sized stones blocking seven-eight culverts that allow inter-tidal water to reach the mangroves.
Obstructing the natural course of water or blocking the inter-tidal water from mangrove areas is a CRZ violation,said N Vasudevan,chief conservator of forests,mangrove cell. Violations on private land are referred by the mangrove cell to the revenue department. The cell will submit their findings to the civic body Monday,said DL Mate,range forest officer,mangrove cell.
Such blockage of water eventually leads to drying up of mangroves in the area. “There is a kutcha road that is used by people during the day. Any activity on the culverts will be noticed,so the blockages have come up in the night-time over the past few weeks,” said D Stalin,project director of NGO Vanashakti.
Essel Group said if the violations were on their land they would “try and understand the issues from the authorities”.
“We are running an amusement park in Gorai for the past 25 years and our activities are not harmful to the environment,”said Nilay Vaidya,associate vice president,(public relations),Essel World.
mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com
Share
