“In October 2005, the Bombay High Court had passed an order ensuring the protection of mangroves in Maharashtra by disallowing construction within 50 metres around the mangroves. This is a clear violation of the court order and CRZ rules,” said Rishi Aggarwal, environmentalist and joint secretary of Mangrove Society of India, Mumbai chapter.

The mangroves are important for the city as they could stop floods like the one happened on 26/7 in the future. “The Vakola nullah belt, which is approximately 200-300 acres in area, was filled with mangroves. But these mangroves had to be destroyed to make way for slums. Eventually, we had to face the grim situations like deluge. If these mangroves are destroyed, there is no doubt that another deluge will happen,” said Dr Jimish Modi, convener, Jagrut Nagrik Manch.

Activists admit that because of the lack of active citizens’ participation, other stretches of mangroves in the city also disappeared. “Years ago, Lokhandwala complex in Andheri had a good stretch of mangroves, but that eventually disappeared resulting in complete submerging of Juhu every monsoon. Now, we don’t want to lose this stretch too,” said Veena Shanghvi, an activist.