How The Muddy Waters Will Help Mumbai Stay Clean

The Brihanmumbai Mahanagarpalika's (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC) Mumbai City Development Plan 2005-2025 clearly states the body needs to “develop a master plan for gardens/open spaces and undertake development of a hierarchy of green spaces, recreation and play grounds in a planned manner”. The page further elaborates that 25 per cent of the land in its limits is under forest and national park, and that the developed areas “would require beautification, which would enhance the aesthetics and minimise air pollution”. The plan also talks about preserving the mangroves and other tree plantation to fight pollution.

However, in reality, the increased urban activity in the city has had a devastating impact on the mangroves, wiping them off of the face of Mumbai.  The various rules and regulations have not been able to guard much. And that is not all. Often mistaken for wild green and dirty water deposits, mangroves also suffer damage in the hands of Mumbai's common man.

So when Mumbai's Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta told the media recently that the body was planning mangrove safaris that would involve activities such as trekking and boardwalks along the ecologically sensitive areas, the announcement would have irked many. The revised draft development plan also proposes to build jogging tracks along rivers and creeks and build six-metre wide buffers on each side of nullahs to be used as pedestrian walkways. The BMC expects this work to be complete in two decades. Mangrove-rich areas in Mumbai include Bandra, Colaba, Malabar Hill, Thane, Mahim, Versova, Gorai and Ghodbunder and the natives will enjoy safaris in the middle of it all if the draft plan gets a final go ahead.

How can a plan like this help Mumbai?

• While the BMC expects opposition from environmentalists over the draft plan for entering into a forbidden territory, this move would actually help the city protect its eco-sensitive areas better. In a city where living spaces are hard to find, eco-sensitive zones and areas adjoining them have seen major encroachments by slum dwellers, and they are not alone in doing so. When authorities develop such area, it would certainly put an end to the encroachment activities.

• The recreational places and walkways would certainly add to Mumbai's existing infrastructure and give its citizens a chance to witness the biodiversity in a city that is fast turning into a concrete jungle. These would help the civic body generate better revenues.