58 Hectares Of Forest Land Will Be Destroyed To Make Way For The Mumbai-Delhi Corridor Project

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region is set to lose 58 hectares of forest land, including 10 hectares of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet Delhi-Mumbai Freight Corridor project.

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In a final order issued on February 29, the State Forest Department dereserved this large chunk of forest land spread across the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (10.55 hectares), the Thane forest division (16.17 hectares), and the Dahanu forest division (31.11 hectares).

While issuing the final order, the forest department not only set aside its own reservations but also ignored the objections raised by the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and the officials of the two forest divisions that will lose land.

The $ 90 billion Delhi-Mumbai Freight Corridor will connect Nhava Sheva Port to Dadri in UP. The project, monitored by the Prime Minister's Office every fortnight, will be funded by Japan. It will cover a distance of 1,483 km between the political capital and the business capital of the country.

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But the city will pay a heavy environmental price for the project. Officials at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, which is home to 35 panthers, had told the forest department that the freight corridor will greatly restrict the movement of wildlife. In their objections sent to the forest department, the officials had also pointed out the instances of leopards being run over by speeding vehicles on Ghodbunder Road, which cuts through the national park. "Now leopards will have to deal with speeding trains too," said an official who did not wish to be identified.

The goods trains will also affect movement of monkeys, wildboars, hyenas, deer, neelgai, barking deer, civet cat and wildcats which are found in abundance in the national park and the surrounding forested areas.

The order issued by Chief Conservator of Forests Virendra Tiwari said the diversion of forest land has been cleared by the National Board of Wildlife, National Green Tribunal and also the Bombay High Court.

The order of dereservation of land does not offer any comment on a set of mitigating measures suggested by the Bombay Natural History Society. These included construction of three underpasses and two over-bridges and fencing along the track passing through the forest areas. It was also suggested that the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (India) Limited be asked to deposit Rs 15 crore with the state government for mitigation measures.

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The Sanjay Gandhi National Park has the highest density of panthers and it makes Mumbai one of those rare metropolises that have a national park within. There are 21 panthers per 100 sq km of Sanjay Gandhi National Park, while the national average is 12 to 15 panthers.

Sunjoy Monga, a naturalist expert, said he has failed to comprehend this government's desire to dereserve forest land.

Bandu Dhotre, environmentalist and honorary wildlife warden of Tadoba National Park, said conservation of Sanjay Gandhi National Park should have been one of the priorities of the state and the Union governments. "The Sanjay Gandhi National Park is the only national park surviving in an urban area and is a welcome green patch in a concrete jungle. This project will disturb wildlife," he said.

Dr Anish Andheria, editor, Santuary Asia magazine, said he hopes the mitigation measures will be put in place well before the work for laying the tracks begins. "The Sanjay Gandhi National Park and the Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary are already under tremendous developmental pressure due to their proximity to Mumbai and Thane. Now another linear intrusion will add to the stress on the parks' wildlife," he said.

The Delhi-Mumbai Freight Corridor includes 24 industrial regions, eight smart cities, two airports, five power projects, two mass rapid transit systems and two logistical hubs. Conceived as a global manufacturing and trading hub, the project is expected to double employment potential, triple industrial output and quadruple exports from the region in five years.