Navi Mumbai: The process to conserve the 30 acre DPS Flamingo Lake is to take effect at the earliest by the State government appointed high power committee. As per information obtained under Right to Information (RTI) by Nat connect foundation, a decision has been taken to protect the flamingo abode following a lot of hue and cry by environmentalists.
The Committee was appointed in July with a brief to suggest ways to protect the natural flamingo destination following an assurance by the then State Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on the floor of the legislative assembly.
The committee surveyed the lake and finalised its recommendations on September 23. But they were not yet made public. NatConnect Foundation has, hence, sought the details of the committee recommendations.
Hailing the committee’s decision to protect the DPS Lake, Kumar said this will go a long way in maintaining the identity of Navi Mumbai as the flamingo city and its biodiversity.
“This is also the result of the collective efforts made by the environmentalists and we sincerely hope that the recommendation will be followed through to conserve the lake,” said Sandeep Sareen of Navi Mumbai Environmental Preservation Society (NMEPS).
A key decision of the committee was that the Mangrove Cell, while making the recommendation for declaring the DPS Flamingo Lake as a Conservation reserve, would incorporate the BNHS study on the flamingos at the lake and refer it to the Wildlife Institute at Dehradun.
CIDCO, which was part of the Committee, however is stated to as per the RTI to have argued at the committee meeting that the issue of developing the DPS Flamingo Lake is pending at the Supreme Court.
The Bombay High Court had in November 2018 ordered CIDCO to protect the wetland and directed the city planner to remove all debris from the lake.
The state committee, too, had asked CIDCO not to harm the lake and continue to allow the intertidal water flow through points 3 and 4 at the lake.
The wetland, however, is in a very poor shape with stagnant water and plenty of moss and garbage as the water flow was blocked again by vested interests, NatCionnect complained to the CM and the Mangrove Cell.
Meanwhile, the Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has taken suo motu notice of the flamingo deaths and asked the western zonal bench to seek explanations from various authorities.
As many as 17 flamingos have died at the lake – seven in January as they crashed into a giant sign board built for the now defunct Nerul jetty and 10 in May after the lake was rendered dry due to the blocking of the water flow – NatConnect director B N Kumar recalled.
