Green activists from the city are against the beautification of Parsik Hill reportedly being carried out by Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC). Activists claim that the civic body is cutting the Hill for ‘beautification’ which is not acceptable as it does not require any cosmetic changes.
Environmentalists and Parsik Hill residents have questioned the logic behind cutting the Hill using heavy JCB machines and burning down the existing trees.
Last month, Parsik Hill residents and environmental groups had complained regarding massive digging close to CIDCO Bhavan. They fear that the digging would have an impact on the Hill environmentally.
Following the continuous digging activity, NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar complained to both the chief minister's office and the civic body NMMC saying that the Hill was being brazenly cut with heavy JCB machines in broad daylight.
Kumar said, "Deputy municipal commissioner Jaideep Pawar informed me that the civic body is responsible only for the planting of about 6,000 trees which is done through a CSR project of Lubrizol Limited." "The civic body has nothing to do with the Hill cutting and damaging the existing trees,” he added.
Following his complaint, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the State Forest Department stepped in to check the cutting of the Parsik Hill slope on the eastern side, claims Kumar.
According to Kumar, only after his complaint, did the environment group came to know about the reason for the activity.
“The Parsik Hill cutting case took a new turn with the NMMC officials admitting that it is the civic body’s work for beautification of the area,” said Kumar. He added that NMMC’s Belapur Ward officer Mitali Sancheti visited the area after a series of complaints and confirmed to NatConnect that the work is being carried out by the civic body and she had asked the relevant documents to check the details of the work.
Stunned by this revelation, environmentalists and Parsik Hill residents questioned the logic behind the cutting of the Hill using heavy JCB machines, cutting and burning down the existing trees.
“The Hill by itself is beautiful and it does not require any artificial beautification,” said Jayant Thakur, president of Parsik Residents Association. The digging is bound to impact the Hill and pose risks of landslides, he pointed out.
