Maharashtra Mangrove Cell on Saturday submitted a report to the Collector of Mumbai Suburbs after it was reported that owners of 50-60 homes in SVP Nagar of Versova — including actor-comedian Kapil Sharma — had allegedly extended their properties into 10 metres of protected wetlands by encroaching upon the mangroves in their backyard. The survey was done on September 12.
Speaking about the violations made by the bungalow owners, Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Makrand Ghodke said, “Most bungalow owners have dumped the debris and also planted trees on top of it. The use of GPS recordings with the help of Google Earth was done to find out about this. MRSAC reveals that within 50 metres of the plots construction and reclamation had been done. All of these are after 2005. Some of these are within 7 metres of MHADA plots, which clearly indicated that there was illegal construction.”
The Google maps have been submitted along with the report. The authorities have been asked to find out if it is illegal to do so as per Bombay High Court order of 2005. The report also suggested that on the basis of the evidence, the owners could be booked under the Environment Act which was submitted by State Mangrove Cell (a copy of which is with dna).
Speaking about the further action to be taken, Navnath Jare, Deputy Collector of Mumbai Suburbs, said, “We have asked MHADA and BMC authorities to assist us with the documents, one the documents prove that the constructions are illegal, we will lodge an FIR on the same. Our team has been sent to the Tehsildar office for the same.”
