Authorities sit on Divisional Mangrove Protection Committee recommendations to shield BJP lawmaker's structure
A day after DNA carried a report of how the BJP MLA of Mira-Bhayandar butchered mangroves to create the plush Seven Eleven Club, DNA has accessed the recommendations of the Divisional Mangrove Protection Committee that visited the site in question on February 8, 2019. The committee had clearly mentioned in its inspection report that the area where the club is constructed is mangrove land and the greens were destroyed and it was reclaimed.
However, a visit to the club by DNA revealed that recommendations of the committee as well its appeal to the local civic body to adhere to the Bombay High Court order were not followed. The High Court order clearly states that no construction should take place in a 50-metre radius of mangrove forests. Hence, the committee's inspection report has urged the municipal corporation to issue a stop-work notice. The committee which undertook the visit included revenue department Sub-division Officer Sudam Pardesh, Tehsildar Adhik Patil, Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) of Thane forest division Girija Desai, Vanshakti NGO Director Stalin D (who is also a member of the state mangrove protection committee), Deputy Commissioner of Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation Deepak Poojari and police officer DN Tadvi from Mira Road police station.
DNA also spoke with a local real estate developer to gauge the cost of the property whose total area amounts to 1,53,000 square feet. At the going rate of Rs 6500-7000 per square feet, the developer pegged the total at around Rs 100 crore while the activists claim its value to be worth 500 crore. The committee report has clear recommendations for the revenue department, Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation, local police, Forest Department Thane and Pollution Control Department.
The report asks the corporation to remove illegal reclamation and reinstate the mangroves as they once stood there. It asks to open all sources of natural water that were obstructed due to the construction. It asks to issue a stop-work notice to the construction. It states that vehicles and people should be prohibited from going there and boards be put up declaring the area to be a mangrove forest.
When we questioned MLA Narendra Mehta on the committee's recommendations, he said, "There are no arrests made so far in this case. We have all requisite permission to carry out the construction. Those who have given permissions are not idiots. Despite news being published in various outlets, we continued to get permissions. The people who are making charges are showing wrong land records which do not match with where the plot actually stands."
"I have written to Mangrove cell committee, collector, Konkan Commissioner, the Chief Minister that we have all evidence and proof and all legal permissions are being taken. They should call and listen to us," added Mehta. However, Dhiraj Parab, a local activist and a complainant, has refuted Mehta's claims. "He is a liar. I have filed cases myself. I have spotted trucks doing reclamation on the site which is illegal as per 2005 HC order on Mangroves," he said.
"I have nothing to say to Mehta's claim of Congress leaders running a campaign against him. All the FIRs and complaints are in the public domain," said Muzaffar Hussain, local Congress leader and Working President, Maharashtra Congress.
Key Findings:
- When visited, DNA noticed that the Seven-Eleven club is open for membership
- The membership value is Rs 3 lakh for a single person, Rs 5 lakh for a couple, and for a child it’s Rs 1.5 lakh for 10 years.
- The membership includes access to the restaurant, indoor games, salon and spa, wellness centre and a swimming pool which is not ready yet
- Its website screams: ‘An exclusionary club, a symbol of a lifestyle and of belonging to a hip social set, Seven Eleven Club has been established with a vision of bestowing high life living and leisure to our patrons’
—With inputs from Sudhir Suryavanshi and Ketan Vaidya
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