Navi Mumbai: No sign of debris clearing after officials visit Lotus lake

Navi Mumbai civic officials at Lotus lake in Nerul where construction debris has been dumped

The popular Lotus lake in Navi Mumbai continues to remain filled with debris despite visits by top officials to the water body and their orders to clear the waste.

The sorry state of the water body in Nerul has prompted environmentalist Sunil Agarwal to urge the state environment minister to instruct authorities to register an FIR against those destroying the lake. Earlier, he had written to the minister and the chief minister seeking intervention.

"We want to free the lake and its catchment area buffer zone from encroachments and debris. We also want authorities to put security in place so that similar attempts of encroachment and debris dumping is not repeated in future," Agarwal wrote in his latest communication to the environment minister on Thursday.

The lake, which is spread over 2.25 hectares, has been shown as a notified wetland in a report of January 20 by the Thane Tehsildar. It also features in the National Wetland Inventory and Assessment atlas.

After the assault on Lotus was reported by the media, including mid-day on March 12, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation Commissioner Abhijit Bangar visited the site and withdrew permission granted to development body CIDCO to offload construction waste in the lake's buffer zone.

Thane Tehsildar Yuvraj Bangar also inspected the area. He has reportedly updated the Konkan commissioner on the extent of trash dumped in the lake by CIDCO, which has also been asked to remove it.

Agarwal has also written to Navi Mumbai civic and police commissioners, and the members of a high court-appointed committee formed to protect mangroves and wetlands in the state to save the Lotus lake.

Konkan Division Commissioner Annasaheb Misal remained unavailable for comments.

2.2
Area of Lotus lake in Navi Mumbai (in hectares)