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| Edited By: Rosy Sequeira |Source: DNA |Updated: Nov 23, 2010, 11:30 PM IST
Peeved at the wrangling between two government bodies on whether a stretch of road was part of forest land or not, the Bombay High Court yesterday directed the State government to expeditiously complete fencing work all around the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
The division bench of Justice PB Majmudar and Justice Mridula Bhatkar while hearing a clutch of petitions filed by builders and residents who were challenging the cordon of a stretch of road near Tikuji Ni Wadi, an amusement park in Thane.
In 2003 HC had directed that a fence be put around the park to prevent encroachments. Till now, the government has fenced some 40 kilometers out of total 107 square kilometers of park area. The judges told the government pleader to inform their order to the chief minister and forest minister in order to ensure speedy compliance of the same.
According to the petition filed by M/s Cosmos Constructions, which has its projects slated to come up, a road passing through Tikuji Ni Wadi divides the forest and the non-forest areas.
However, according to records of the Thane Municipal Corporation
(TMC), the road falls in the non-forest area. An intervention petition was filed by Neelkanth Mansions and Infrastructure Private Limited.
Neelkanth’s lawyer Sanjay Jain argued that the TMC plans show that road is in the non-forest development plan. Surveys conducted by the taluka inspector, Land Revenue Department in 2004 and 2006 showed that a road which passed through Tikuji Ni Wadi falls in the non-forest area. Even the DP of the TMC shows the road in the non-forest area, he added.
However, government pleader submitted that the deputy collector had ruled that the road fell in the forest land. He said under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 area in the forest land are vested with the state government.
NGO Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG) also intervened pointing out that if HC allows re-survey of individual roads such as this then it will only open a Pandora’s box. Its counsel Gautam Patel told the court that the dispute whether the road is forest land or not would not have risen if the government had completed the fencing work. The judges also directed a superintendent of land records to visit the area and submit a report on November 28, the next date of hearing.
