Mangroves under threat at North West Mumbai
In a strange series of incidents, at Dahisar and Borivali in the north west part of Mumbai, home to millions of people, there is a war going on.
It all started with a perceived scarcity of housing in Mumbai.
Even as there are thousands of apartment blocks lying locked, mainly bought by people as an investment, there is a strong lobby of builders and media who want to project an image of scarcity of housing. Their main motive is to keep the demand high to keep prices high.
Feeding on the dreams of common people to own a house of their own, and encouraged by financial institutions sitting on a huge pile of capital, an artificial picture of scarcity has been created.
To solve this so called scarcity of residential homes, a lobby developed a proposal to use salt pan land lying on the coastal areas of Mumbai .
The excuse they are using is that salt pan land can be used to house slum dwellers! Slum dwellers form almost 50% of Mumbai's population, often occupying government land which has not been guarded by the authorities concerned. Now, instead of evicting the slum dwellers, our policy makers are creating another problem by proposing to 'rehabilitate' them on ecologically sensitive salt pan land!
Salt pans in Dahisar have been lying unused since the 80's.
Suddenly the residents here find that there is a lot of interest in this huge patch of mangrove land admeasuring almost 340 acres. Expensive cars, Politicians from Mira Bhayander, and other infamous people including the Thakur family have been hanging around the New Link Road. The property in question is full of lush green mangroves adjoining the Gorai creek which connects to the Arabian sea via Malad.
The Bombay Environmental Action Group has been fighting to preserve Mumbai's environment since decades. Debi Goenka the founder and Stalin from Conservation action Trust have taken the battle to the highest court, the Supreme court of India.
At the Supreme court, the lawyers for the Kamathia's, alleged owners of the land where there used to be salt pans, said they want to repair the salt pan bunds. Based on the letter given to them by the Mumbai suburban collector, the honourable Judges passed an order in March 2010 allowing repair of bunds, with severe restrictions as to not to destroy any mangroves.
Here are some of the New paper articles relating to the mangoves, salt pans and Mumbai housing.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/mumbai/A-pinch-of-salt-pan-land/articleshow/1019091.cms
A pinch of salt pan land
TNN, Feb 12, 2005, 04.06pm IST
At a meeting last week when a Maharashtra Chamber of Housing and Industry (MCHI) representative reportedly suggested that salt pan areas be used to build townships, a Maharashtra Housing And Development Association (MHADA) official firmly opposed the idea. "How can MCHI assume that the land will be available for them to build upon? They have no locus standi. I vociferously opposed them," said MHADA's Uttam Khobragade, when asked about MCHI's plans for salt pan lands.
This episode illustrates just how sought after salt pan land is in a place like Mumbai which is virtually bursting at the seams. With land becoming dearer by the day, more and more heads are turning in the direction of the city's salt pans, which are being viewed by developers and builders as the answer to Mumbai's housing problems.
Spread over 400 acres, Mumbai's salt pans are divided between the State Government and the Central Government. "Out of 400 acres, only 86 acres can be used for development since a large portion of the land falls under the Coastal Regulation Zone," informs Vimal Shah, secretary, MCHI, adding that a number of plots are currently lying vacant.
Says Shailesh Sanghvi of the Sanghvi Group, "Developing housing on salt pan lands means more areas for development will be opened up,which will, in turn, bring down the cost of housing." Adds Deepak Garodia of the Dosti Group that has real estate in Vasai, "Development in Mumbai is concentrated and occurs at a 45 degree angle, unlike other cities where it takes place at 360 degrees, i.e. the length and breadth of the city. This has led to a housing problem. Developing salt pan land wouldn't solve the problem but it would help in easing it."
Shah agrees,"I strongly feel that Mumbai's slum problem can be solved if all the salt pan land is used to rehabilitate slum dwellers. If we don't, we will lose out on an opportunity of solving the slum problem."
While the development of salt pan land is being viewed as a possible answer to the city's staggering housing problem,the project will expectedly require massive funding. Real estate dealers predict that the use of salt pans could get delayed for decades together unless the private sector is allowed to participate.
However, builders are wary about taking on salt pan land for development. "This land belongs to the government,a portion of it is leased out for a very long period, something like 99 years. Even if the lease expires, the ownership of the land and its title becomes a major issue. I am unsure of whether such land in Mumbai would be given out for development to builders," says Garodia. "A builder in Mira Road acquired similar property a while back but is still unable to start building.Building on such land also has environmental repercussions,so the government is more careful about giving away rights," adds Sanghvi.
Garodia and Sanghvi's fears seem substantiated from what Khobragade says, "Interested parties can't assume that this land will just be handed over to them.First the government lease has to be cancelled, even then, the land may not be transferred to them.There is a whole process to this".
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/mumbai-salt-pan-land-to-be-unlocked-for-realty-projects/316252/
Mumbai salt pan land to be unlocked for realty projects
Vikas Dhoot
Posted: Friday, May 30, 2008 at 2128 hrs IST
Updated: Friday, May 30, 2008 at 2128 hrs IST
New Delhi , May 29: A much-awaited measure to alleviate the severe paucity of land in the country's financial capital Mumbai, is close to realisation. Over 5,378 acres of salt pan land in the city's suburbs owned by the Centre will soon be unlocked to develop low-cost housing projects for rehabilitating slum dwellers to be displaced by the various infrastructure upgrade projects, including the expansion of the Mumbai international airport.
A group of ministers (GoM) examining the salt pan land issue, chaired by the agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, met in the capital on Thursday and is close to completing its mandate. Emerging from the meeting that was attended by Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath told the Financial Express that the GoM has decided to unlock the salt pan land.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=283905
Salt pans of Mumbai may disappear soon |
Press Trust Of India / Mumbai May 09, 2007 |
Vast tracts of over 5,500 acres of salt pans within the city might disappear soon as a proposal to convert them to housing projects for displaced squatters is in the offing. |
|
Though not quite as beautiful as Bolivia's highest Uyuni saltpans, or reportedly the world's largest Makgadikgadi saltpans of Botswana, Mumbai's saltpans do stretch like white deserts visible often from rail tracks, glistening in the setting sun. |
|
"Salt pans in Mumbai, unlike elsewhere, are essentially an urban entity and as of now are worked on by less than 500 labourers," according to Deputy Salt Commissioner S Mukherjee. |
|
"If the lands are used for development, salt production which is about 1.2 lakh tonnes annually, from these areas will naturally also disappear," Mukherjee said. |
|
However, Mukherjee stressed, "There is absolutely no cause for concern...There is an abundance of salt production across the country, especially in the neighbouring Gujarat whose resources could be drawn upon. |
|
"The main issue here is that of ownership. The lands had been leased out centuries ago to private parties purely for salt manufacture. Today most manufacturers are claiming that the lands are their personal properties," he said. |
|
At present the use of saltpans by government is held up following disputes over ownership of the lands and the matter is being pursued in court. |
|
Over the years, Mumbai has lost several acres of saltpans to developers and in the 1950's two plots of about 120 acres (of the Bharpur Salt Works near Vikhroli) and 150 acres (from the Mahudwala saltpans) were used up for residential purposes. |
|
"The saltpans now being looked to by the Ministry of Urban Development spread across central and suburban Mumbai in the areas of Bhandup, Vadala, Trombay, Thane and Vikhroli," Mukherjee said. |
|
"These are worked on mainly by transient labour and unlike in Gujarat, no one really lives on them now... These are in-land pans and they do not reflect any rural flavour," he said. |
|
"However, as some overlap along creeks they may have some visiting birds including flamingos," the deputy salt commissioner said. |
|
"The Gujarat saltpans fall along the sea coast and are abundant in natural flora and fauna." |
|
Mumbai's saltpans, however, comprise the few last bits of this overcrowded city's open spaces. |
|
Environmentalists here are worried the city will lose its buffer against sea erosion and flooding. |
|
The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), an over century-old research body, feels that with fears of flooding and 26/7, developers should not use saltpans as "these act as buffers in preventing ocean flooding...They absorb the rush of water from the sea". |
|
BNHS Chief Scientist, Deepak Apte, said, "Climate change is no longer a buzz word and maintaining ecological balance is essential to good health and progress." |
|
Environmentalist and editor of Sanctuary Magazine, Bittu Sehgal, is even more vehement. "Usurping saltpans for construction is asking for trouble, in an era of climate change. These saltpans need to be returned to mangrove status urgently to counter rising sea levels and to protect the vulnerable coastal population of Mumbai from the potentially killing impact of tidal waves." |
|
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_exploiting-salt-pans-will-be-suicidal_1049051
Exploiting salt pans will be suicidal'
DNA Correspondent
Wednesday, August 23, 2006 23:40 IST
Environmentalists are up against development of city's open spaces.
Even as the state government is eyeing open spaces like salt pan lands and no-development zones (NDZ) and allowing transfer of development rights (TDR) to free the city of slums, environmentalists are raising their voices against development on these lands.
"The move will be suicidal," said Arvind Adarkar, joint director, Rachna Sansad College of Architecture. "The development of such lands has a direct connection with the July 26 deluge. Instead, the state should formulate a long-term plan to rehabilitate slum dwellers, as suggested by the Bombay High Court last year."
