Esselword grapples with mangroves that 8216;don8217;t exist8217;!

MUMBAI, APRIL 29: Using a blind spot in the annals of history to its advantage, the controversial amusement park, Esselworld, is butting ...

MUMBAI, APRIL 29: Using a blind spot in the annals of history to its advantage, the controversial amusement park, Esselworld, is butting heads with Gorai residents once again, This time, their extended tug-of-war with the Koli inhabitants balances on a 1.5 km-long bund, which the villagers claim was built a year ago, preventing sea water from feeding the life-sustaining mangroves and killing marine life there.

The amusement park, on the other hand, claims the bund which borders the road leading to its premises, is more than a century old and it is not responsible for the death of any mangroves. In fact, according to a spokesperson of Pan Indian Paryatan Limited, the 8,200-odd mangroves of which the villagers speak never did exist!

To settle the dispute, which has claimed the livelihood of 80-odd families, the villagers say they will move court soon. The residents, under the banner of the Gorai Bachao Sangharsh Samiti GBSS, insist the bund was built in March-April last year in violation of the CoastalRegulation Zone notification, the city8217;s Development Plan 1991 and the Environment Protection Act, 1980. They say the bund, bordering the 700-acre Survey No: 268 and 269, has killed the crabs, molluscs, prawns and other marine life in the vicinity, where they fish during the monsoon when deep-sea angling is impossible.

Says Desmond D8217;Souza of the GBSS: 8220;How can EsselWorld claim the bund is contiguous with a 1.5-mile-long structure built over a century ago? The latter was built by one Shamrao Welkar as a condition to being given the land on which it stands by the British who leased it to him for 999 years in 1885,8221; he says. 8220;We saw the bund in contention being built last year with our very eyes,8221; he adds.

8220;We never built the bund,8221; maintains Nilesh Mistry, spokesperson for EsselWorld. It has been there ever since we bought the land from the government, which took it back from Welkar who failed to carry out the reclamation as part of the deal.8221;

However, the plot8217;s ownership is not in dispute. Thedeath of 8,000-odd mangroves is, clarifies environmental activist Debi Goenka. Says Goenka, who has been helping the samiti fight its case: 8220;Irrespective of who owns the plot on which they stand, the mangroves are bound to be protected as per the Maharshtra Urban Area Preservation of Trees Act, 1975.

Adds Noel Kini, chairperson of the Gorai Machchimar Sahakari Sanstha, 8220;This bund has obstructed the tidal water flow from the Gorai creek into khazan land, which was full of lush green mangroves. The property is protected by the CRZ notification and the Development Control Rules, as it falls under a No-Development Zone, 1991, he points out.

Story continues below this ad

Suburban District Collector, Vasant Gavai, had also visited the site along with the then Sub-Divisional Officer B J Patil on July 22, 1998, and ordered EsselWorld to break open the bund in places within seven days so that the sea water could reach the delicate mangroves.

8220;Yes, the order was passed,8221; Gavai told Express Newsline, but he refused to sayany more. Still, the water park consolidated the bund on August 5, 1998, the residents allege, adding that despite complaints to the local police, no action has been taken. Thereafter, the mangroves have died a slow death, they add.

Counters EsselWorld spokesperson Nilesh Mistry: 8220;But there were no mangroves here. The collector passed the order merely to pacify the agitated villagers,8221; he said, adding that the amusement park has instead laid pipes under the bund to facilitate the passage of sea water.

8220;How can EsselWorld claim there were no mangroves? They died in front of our eyes. They can still break the bund and the mangroves will grow back again,8221; argues Kini. With the tug-of-war culminating in a dead-end, the largest section of Mumbai8217;s original inhabitants are sharpening their talons before they move court.