MOEFCC Acts On Illegal Wetland Landfill: CIDCO Accused Of Defying Court Orders At Nerul's Lotus Lake

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MOEFCC) has acknowledged a complaint from NatConnect Foundation, which flagged the illegal landfill attempt by CIDCO at the Lotus Lake, a verified wetland in Nerul.

“Responding within 30 minutes of the grievance being filed on the PMO Public Grievance (PMOPG) portal, MOEFCC’s Wetland Division Scientist-F, Pankaj Verma, marked the issue as “Taken up” and forwarded the complaint to Maharashtra’s Environment Director Abhay Madhukar Pimparkar to take appropriate action,” NatConnect director B N Kumar said.

The complaint, filed by NatConnect director B N Kumar, raised serious concerns about CIDCO’s ongoing efforts to fill the wetland with debris from the Navi Mumbai International Airport construction site. "Despite the Bombay High Court’s protective orders and a Wetland Committee directive to halt the activity, CIDCO has now sought police protection to complete the landfill within 15 days, Kumar said.

The activist highlighted that Lotus Lake is among 564 wetlands documented by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) and is protected under the National Wetland Inventory and Assessment (NWIA), as directed by the Supreme Court. Kumar submitted that the MOEFCC itself had earlier asked all states and UTs to safeguard such wetlands.

Legal interventions have already taken place. Two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed by advocate Pradeep Patole led the Bombay High Court to order CIDCO to remove debris and instructed the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) to clear illegal encroachments. Yet, CIDCO went ahead and awarded a landfill contract to TIPL, a private firm allegedly linked to an influential politician.

Environmentalists and local citizens have strongly opposed the dumping, prompting Vanashakti, another environmental group, to approach the High Court-appointed Wetland Committee, which then directed CIDCO to halt the landfill work.

"This is a dangerous development for our biodiversity and ecological balance," Kumar said in his submission to the Centre. “We must act to save what little of our wetlands remain.”

Expressing gratitude for the Centre’s quick response, NatConnect urged the Maharashtra Environment Department to demonstrate similar urgency in preventing irreversible damage to this vital ecosystem.