MNP

Dharavi redevelopment project

Maharashtra Nature Park

Save Mahim Nature Park: State hell bent on using park for Dharavi’s redevelopment Ignoring objections of its Forest Minister, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), environmentalists and citizens’ groups, the state government

MMRDA

NAGAR

Urban Design Research Institute

Bombay Natural History Society

Bombay Environmental Action Group

Paver blocks at Mahim park raise eyebrows MMRDA is replacing brick pathways; cut trees, liquor bottles leave many questions unanswered.

NGO Vanashakti

Environmentalists fear that the government will either gobble up the mandatory open space in Maharashtra Nature Park or turn it into a private open land that would be up for grabs for builders

Activists say officials have neither heard a single objection nor have they scrapped the plan to include the 41-acrein theThree months after calling for suggestions and objections from citizens on the plan to include Mahim’s 41-acre(MNP) in the Dharavi redevelopment project (DRP), the Dharavi Redevelopment Authority seems to have junked the objections.Neither has a single objection been heard so far, nor has the agency formally scrapped the plan to include the green zone in the slum redevelopment project.Activists who had filed their objections are now fuming, asking the agency to either hear them out or announce that the proposal has been scrapped. DRP officials said there was no instruction from the government on scrapping the plan.“We have not been told whether to begin the hearings. So, we are waiting. There is a status quo on the plan and nothing has moved since March,” said an official.In April, a month after the state government moved a proposal to include MNP in the DRP — a move that sparked a furore among activists and the Shiv Sena — DRP officials received 18 formal objections to the plan.Among the opposers were the, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests N Vasudevan, Shiv Sena leader Manisha Kayande, and top NGOs likeand other local citizen groups.Environmentalists fear that the government will gobble up the mandatory open space in MNP or turn it into a private open land that would be up for grabs to builders, if the nature park is allowed to be taken over to redevelop the city’s largest slum.“We have been following up with DRP officials, but they are not giving us a hearing. This is unfair since we filed formal objections. If they have decided to keep MNP out of the project, then the proposal should be scrapped. By not taking any action and following the procedure, the threat to MNP still exists,” said activist Nayana Kathpalia from NAGAR.Kathpalia, trustee of NAGAR, said the NGO plans to oppose any attempt to use MNP’s floor space index for the redevelopment project.DRP had published a notification in March this year, asking for suggestions and objections. Under pressure from environmentalists, citizen groups, activists and rival Shiv Sena, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had last month assured the assembly that there would be no construction at the MNP. He said MNP would be tagged a natural area and its status as a green space would be protected.While a small battle was won in the fight to preserve the open space, activists claimed that it was not good enough. They, instead, demanded that the proposal for inclusion be entirely scrapped. Environmentalists asked why the government wanted it to be a part of DRP if there was no plan for any construction in the first place. Stalin Dayanand ofalleged that the government appears to be “waiting for people to forget the issue so that they can play mischief again”.SVR Srinivas, CEO of DRP, said, “The hearings will take place and due procedure will be followed. Those who have raised objections are already being called.”