The state government is inching closer to declaring all eligible mangrove cover in Maharashtra legal ‘forest’ areas under the provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
While only around 19,000 hectares out of the total mangrove area of 32,000 hectares are eligible to be brought under the law, nearly 18,000 hectares of them have already been notified under section 4 of the Act as of May 31, data available with the forest department’s mangrove cell shows. Officials said the remaining mangrove cover would be notified within the calendar year.
The ownership history of the land played a key role in determining eligibility under India’s forest Acts, and due to being under private ownership, around 13,000 hectares of mangroves in the state would not get additional protection under the Forest Conservation Act, officials said.
Virendra Tiwari, additional principal chief conservator of forests (mangrove cell), said, “Any mangrove cover on privately owned land cannot be declared a reserve forest. But they are nevertheless covered under the Environment Protection Act, as per the Coastal Regulation Zone [CRZ] rules. So, while it won’t require forest clearance to divert the land, there is still a layer of protection. Besides, the Bombay high court has to give permission for diversion of mangroves as well.”
This means once designated a legal ‘forest’, project proponents must seek mandatory forest clearance from the forest department, in addition to the Bombay HC’s permission and the CRZ clearance to divert the land for any non-forestry purpose.
Moreover, in case of any land use violation such as illegal dumping, unauthorised clearing or landfilling of mangroves or hindrance to flow of tidal waters, the forest department will have the jurisdiction to take action against offenders and remediate the area, under provisions of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. In effect, any kind of development will be practically impossible without being subjected to scrutiny by the state and Central authorities. On mangrove land that is not legally a forest, this responsibility lies with the land-owning agencies, either urban local bodies or special purpose vehicles.
After the fresh notification of around 1,019 hectares of mangroves in Raigad and Thane districts on May 12 – a copy of the notification was accessed by Hindustan Times this week – Maharashtra has now brought a total of 17,974.5 hectares under the Act’s purview. Additionally, 11,548 hectares have been notified under section 20 of the Act, indicating that any third-party claims over the land have been settled after ground-truthing and inquiries by forest survey officers. Another 2,846 hectares have been proposed for deletion from section 20 after inquiries, while about 3,579 hectares are still under inquiry, official data shows.
“Only a small portion of around 1,200 hectares or so is awaiting notification under section 4 of the Act, and we hope to complete this within this year,” Tiwari said.
In 2021, a total of 927 hectares of mangroves in Ratnagiri, 121.8 hectares in Palghar, and 1,387 acres in Thane district were given the legal ‘forest’ status, while 3,090.9 hectares in Mumbai’s suburbs, 2,302 hectares in Raigad, 2,013.5 hectares in Thane, 2,004 hectares in Palghar, and 374.5 hectares in Sindhudurg district were brought under the purview of section 20 of the Act.