NatConnect Foundation

Raigad Collector has cleared 11 of the 19 wetlands documented by NCSCM in the district, including Panje.
NAVI MUMBAI: The much-disputed 289-hectare Panje-Dongari wetland in Uran across Mumbai harbour has moved a decisive step closer to legal protection, with the Raigad district administration confirming the site's status through a long-delayed ground verification report, greens said.
The development has been hailed as a major breakthrough by environmental groups that have long campaigned to protect the wetland, Maharashtra's largest intertidal ecosystem and once a prime habitat for more than 100,000 flamingos.
According to NatConnect Foundation, the verification follows documentation by the Chennai-based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), which has completed the ground-truthing of nearly all the 23,000 wetlands identified in Maharashtra under the National Wetland Inventory and Assessment (NWIA), based on 2006-07 satellite imagery.
The exercise is a prerequisite for formally notifying wetlands under the Environment (Protection) Act. Environmentalists say Maharashtra has taken far too long to complete the verification and notification process.
A senior State Wetland Authority official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told NatConnect that the Raigad Collector has cleared 11 of the 19 wetlands documented by NCSCM in the district, including Panje.
BEAG founder and noted environmentalist Debi Goenka was among the first to demonstrate, using the National Wetland Inventory and Assessment (NWIA) maps, that Panje qualified as a wetland despite claims to the contrary. His painstaking interpretation of the colour-coded satellite atlas greatly strengthened our case for Panje's conservation," NatConnect Director B N Kumar said.
The wetlands at Belpada and Bhendkhal also appear to have advanced towards notification, offering hope for their long-term conservation, Kumar said.
The NCSCM list cleared by the Raigad Collector also includes the Panvel taluka wetlands at Kharghar, Taloja, Kharghar Sector 25, Kalamboli, Sinkar and Morave.
Government officials said wetlands at Sheva, Jaskhar, Murud Creek and the Mangrove Wetland Complex do not figure in the Collector's current documents, raising questions over their status.
Sagar Shakti Director Nandakumar Pawar, who has been leading a prolonged legal battle to protect Panje, described the development as "music to our ears."
"The 289-hectare Panje wetland is the largest intertidal wetland in the state. Its conservation is critical for protecting Uran's fragile ecology," Pawar said.
"Panje has shown that persistence pays," Kumar said. Pawar agreed, saying the focus must now shift to securing legal protection for all of Maharashtra's 23,000 mapped wetlands before they are lost to encroachment.
He warned that the destruction and reclamation of several wetlands in Uran, including the four-kilometre Jasai stretch, have already aggravated flooding in surrounding villages. Extensive landfilling for Dronagiri Node and infrastructure projects has further worsened the situation, he added.
The Collector's report comes despite sustained opposition from CIDCO, which has maintained that several of these areas are former salt pans or agricultural land and therefore developable. Environmental groups dispute this, arguing that the wetlands perform vital ecological functions regardless of their historical land use.
Panje, leased to NMSEZ (now NMIIA), has remained free from construction, but tidal water flow is frequently obstructed, causing the wetland to dry up periodically, Kumar said.
Environmental organisations, including Vanashakti, Sagar Shakti, NatConnect Foundation, Navi Mumbai Environment Preservation Society, Save Navi Mumbai Environment and Kharghar Wetlands & Hills Forum, have been pursuing legal and administrative action to secure protection for these wetlands.
Apart from supporting biodiversity, wetlands act as natural flood buffers, store large quantities of carbon and sustain the livelihoods of traditional fishing communities, Pawar said, stressing that their notification is essential for the climate resilience of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Kharghar Wetlands & Hills convenors Jyoti Nadkarni and Naresh Chandra Singh said the Kharghar wetlands documented by the Chennai-based NCSCM are already under threat from the ongoing coastal road project.