As landslides wreaked havoc during the current wave of incessant rains, environmentalists have called for reclaiming and restoring all hills across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
In a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray, the activists said the landslides are an eye-opener for protecting the region’s biodiversity and requested the government to quickly order a census of all hutments on the hills across MMR and plan a resettlement plan as per the Slum Redevelopment Authority norms.
“We do not want to go into the legalities of the hutment colonies and structures on the hills and hill slopes,” said B N Kumar, director of NatConnect Foundation, “since it is for the government to decide.”
“We are concerned about protecting the hills and of course the lives of people,” Kumar said.
In this connection, he drew the attention of the government to Parsik Hill rejuvenation by NMMC in association with TERI (The Energy and Research Institute) and said similar plans could be worked out for restoration of hills and slopes in other areas of MMR as well.
The next dangerous area is the quarried stretch of Parsik Hills that is landslide prone and the hutments, he pointed out. In fact, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation conducted a vaccination drive in quarry areas, Kumar said.
NatConnect also expressed concern over CIDCO plans to develop affordable housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) along the quarried Parsik Hill range. Apart from the fact that the land is under the Forest Department, the project will be disaster prone as the blasted hills can be landslide prone, Kumar said.
There are lots of huts on hillocks at Turbhe and at the foothill in Belapur which face the landslide threat.
The non-stop quarrying is also in progress at Kharghar and poses another major threat, said activist Naresh Chandra Singh.
A tweet from KhargharWetlands group appealed to CIDCO and the Raigad district authorities to “put an end to quarrying of Kharghar hills''. “You are endangering the lives of thousands of people that reside at the foothills,” the group said.
Nandakumar Pawar, head of Shri Ekvira Aai Pratishtan, said the government should have a fresh look at the entire MMR biodiversity and work on a comprehensive plan to save the environment and people’s lives. “It will be sad if we do not learn lessons despite these repeated warnings from Nature and disasters.” Pawar said.