When Newsline visited the site, near Dharan Talao, three weeks ago, there was a Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) board that said: “Hacking of mangroves is illegal. Offenders will be prosecuted.”  But walk into the dense shrubbery and one can find tracts of land reclaimed during the past few weeks. A fenced-off hut and another signboard warning off trespassers were also erected. Around the hut, the mangrove forest is so thick that some of the trees are more than 6 feet tall.

The NMMC was quick to pass the buck to the Thane Collector. “Protection of mangroves is the responsibility of the district collector,” said J Sinnarkar, tree authority secretary and deputy municipal commissioner of the NMMC.

Thane district collector S Zhende said it’s the other way around. “It’s up to the NMMC to protect the mangroves in their jurisdiction, but I will send my staff at the earliest,” he said. That was three weeks ago. Yet, to date, no action has been taken against the dumping of debris. “I have asked my officers to get the required information,” said Anjali Bhosale, the tehsildar in charge of the area.

From Diva and Thane to the once-rich mangrove forests along the western coast from Andheri to Mira-Bhayander and Vasai-Virar and now Navi Mumbai, the systematic hacking of mangroves continues despite a court ruling against it. A landmark judgement of the Bombay High Court in 2005 had imposed a complete freeze on mangrove cutting and dumping of debris.

Since that judgement, according to the information collected by the Thane collectorate, 17 cases have been registered in Thane (by the city and the rural police) and in Navi Mumbai. Those charged were arrested and later released on bail. In two cases, the cases were against the Thane and Mira-Bhayander municipal corporations themselves. Convictions in these cases: Zero.

“There hasn’t been any conviction for hacking of mangroves in the Thane commissionerate area,” said Thane Joint Commissioner of Police Madhu Shinde. Navi Mumbai Commissioner of Police Ramrao Wagh and Superintendent of Police (Thane-Rural) Naval Bajaj admitted that there were no convictions for hacking of mangroves in their areas either.

“These wetlands serve as an ideal spot for bio-diversity and one can find all sorts of creatures here – aquatic life, birds, mammals and amphibians,” said Vidhyadhar Walawalkar of Enviro-Vigil, a Thane-based NGO which has done extensive work on wetlands around the Thane creek.