70 hectares of mangroves to be cut for JNPT projects

India's largest container terminal, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), in a recently taken decision, has planned to use 70 hectares of the mangrove land for the development of roads and expansion of the port. This comes despite the records of handing over a large portion of the mangroves JNPT owns at the Raigad district property. Report states that a the proposal has been discussed with Maharashtra's environment minster, Aaditya Thackeray, and the proposal awaits approval.

A report regarding the same was published in the Hindustan Times. 

Officials have informed that approximately 51 out of the 70 hectares will be used for road building and widening plans and the remaining 18 hectares will be to expand the port in the SEZ.

Sharing more details, a spokesperson from the JNPT, told the Hindustan times, “To determine how much area is there as of date, we approached the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre (MRSAC) for demarcation. The results were received by us in April and revealed that there are some 884 hectares of mangroves on the premises now. Of this, we have handed over 814 hectares, and the balance 70 hectares will be diverted for development. 

Furthermore, an announcement was made recently about JNPT handing over 815 hectares of mangroves land which will be used for safekeeping. This comes after the officials denied having no record of mangroves, to an RTI request made in June 2021, whereby records showed that the trust had 913 hectares of land since mid-2000s at the Nhava Sheva property.

This decision has been opposed by environmentalists, however, they have stated that the majority of the land only has grass and shrubs which can be cleared, and the trust would not be removing the mangroves from the land assigned for port expansion. Moreover, JNPT still has 29 hectares of mangroves on the above mentioned Nhava Sheva. Questions have been raised as to why the government or concerned officials have not held the officials for land violations whereby it is evident that the JNPT has only 884 hectares of land from the previously mentioned 913 hectares in 2016. The trust was earlier penalised for destroying a large part of the mangroves for expansion projects, however, the environmentalists demand further questioning.