The Kashigaon police has registered an offence against four people for their alleged involvement in destroying mangroves by dumping debris on them for creating an accessway to a sprawling plot in the Ghodbunder area (survey number 67/2) of Kashimira on Saturday.
However, no arrests have been made so far. According to the police, the action followed after a complaint was registered by talathi (revenue officer)-Abhijeet Bodke who is attached to the District Collector’s office, Thane.
A team comprising officials from the revenue department, Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC), land records department and forest guards inspected the site on July 2 and confirmed massive destruction of mangroves by offloading multiple truckloads of construction waste at the plot.
The team also impounded a Hyva truck used for ferrying the debris and a Tata Hitachi poclain which was found to be levelling the surface of the land. Based on the complaint the police registered an offence under sections 15 and 19 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 against four people including- Mohammed Asif Shaikh (truck driver), Bhuminathan Konda (truck owner), Sanjay Yadav (poclain operator) and Kanti Sheth (poclain owner).
However, the names of land owners on whose behest the illegalities were taking place, consequently posing a serious threat to the fragile eco-system and also increasing the risk of flooding during the rainy season have mysteriously failed to find place in the list of accused mentioned in the FIR.
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Govt’s Web-based Maha Khanij System Being Bypassed.
Although the accused had obtained an electronic transport permit (ETP) to ferry six brass minerals from Naigaon, the permission was misused to dump the debris on the mangrove belt by allegedly bypassing the web-based Maha Khanij system launched by the state government.
Apart from ferrying illegally mined sand sans royalty and invalid ETP’s, the notorious sand debris mafia also tend to switch off the vehicle tracking system (VTS) to avoid live tracking, route deviation and real-time movement of vehicles, sources said.
