Mumbai News: Citizens Propose Coastal Urban Forest Along BMC’s Coastal Road Project

A citizen-led initiative, the Mumbai Coastal Forest (MCF) team has prepared a proposal for creating a forest along the Mumbai Coastal Road, which will soon be officially submitted to the authorities. The BMC has decided to landscape the 70 hectares of encroached land along the coastal road, for which a contract has been awarded to Reliance under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The MCF team plans to have a joint meeting with the BMC officials and Reliance to discuss how the proposal can be worked out.

The 40-page presentation comes after the citizens floated the idea to create an urban forest along the coastal road, for which an online petition was also started in February, addressing PM Narendra Modi, CM Devendra Fadnavis, DCM Eknath Shinde and BMC Chief Bhushan Gagrani. The petition, which till now has garnered more than 39,000 signatures, highlights the development of public land considering the city’s long-term needs and once-in-a-generation opportunity for a climate-smart urban forest.

The proposed MCF plan is made using recommendations under the Mumbai Climate Action Plan, with an objective to convert the land parcels along the coastal road to ‘Climate Smart and People Friendly’. The plan suggests planting native trees zone-wise- seaward side, central zone and residential edge. The tree species to be planted zone-wise include: kewda, sultan champa, and powderpuff mangrove; lal chitrak, neem and sacred fig; and jamul, bakul and amaltas, respectively.

Members of MCF said, “Our objective is that BMC should lay guiding principles for developing encroached land in a climate-friendly way. The pollution and temperature of Mumbai are rising day by day, and this is once in a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create an urban forest.”

Speaking on the MCF proposal, BMC officials from the Coastal Road department said they have not received the proposal yet. “There has been discussion about citizens' demand for creating an urban forest along the coastal road. We are not sure how feasible it will be. However, we will look into it once the citizens submit the proposal,” an official said.