Rapid Action Force to Checkmate Green Mafia in Maharashtra

The pandemic has shown us how nature heals itself when there is no human intervention. We all praised the clean air, clear river water, pollution-free streets and free birds swimming to water bodies during the lockdown period.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in its manifesto for a green and healthy recovery from COVID-19 had emphasized protecting nature, focusing on water and sanitation, clean energy, healthy and sustainable food policies and ending fossil fuel subsidies. COVID is gone and we have forgotten about caring for the environment.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi talks about protecting our biodiversity in his regular speeches, but then the government fails to implement an inclusive environmental policy.

By inclusive policies we mean not only involving the people but also holding the elected representatives from Panchayat to Parliament accountable. The officials responsible for the environment remain unconcerned and they should pay the salaries they get from the tax money.

Destruction of mangrove forests in Mumbai

In the Mumbai region alone, we see large-scale destruction of mangroves and wetlands from Versova to Uran and from Bhiwandi to Panvel. This is apart from the destruction that is taking place in the guise of infrastructure development.

In an ongoing online campaign under the banner of the NatConnect Foundation, which has the support of about 10,000 people, we have called for close and strict monitoring of the implementation of environmental licensing conditions. We have also called on the Prime Minister to declare the National Green Police an Environment Day project and issue guidelines for the states.

In a separate request, former Chief Ministers of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis and later Uddhav Thackeray were also asked to set up an independent Green Police to deal with environmental violations. This is because the existing police force is ill-equipped and inadequate to deal with such cases. Our suggestion has been referred to the Home Ministry, which is yet to act.

MVA government’s appeal rejected by centre

Various laws like Forest Act, Environment Protection Act etc., are supposed to deal with violations. But then the powers are not equally distributed among the authorities. For example, under Environmental Protection Act, cases should be booked by the environment and tax departments only.

The then Maharashtra Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray had appealed to the Centre to delegate powers under the Environment Act to the Forest Department to check crimes like destruction of mangrove forests. But the Union government in its wisdom rejected the idea, probably due to political differences – the BJP at the Centre and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra.

An example is that it took the tax department six months to file an FIR (that too against an unknown person) against the destruction of over 100 mangrove trees in the TS Chanakya wetland in Navi Mumbai! Now this area is getting CCTV camera surveillance.

CCTV surveillance is not enough

Talking about the CCTV network, which we green lovers have been asking for long, the state has finally stepped in to allow (and not allocate) budget from the Mangrove Cell’s accruals for a Rs 120-crore video surveillance system with night vision cameras. This will help track violators and scan the number plates of garbage trucks. The ambitious project also envisages integration with VAHAN Sarathi’s data and databases of Passport, Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), Prisons and Automated Multimodal Biometric Identification System (AMBIS). Very good.

But we need to go beyond this tracking. This is where we want the government to set up a green rapid response force, along the lines of the anti-riot police, to catch the perpetrators. The government should also go a step further by setting up fast-track courts to deal with environmental crimes – be it dumping of debris on mangroves, burying wetlands, cutting down hills, illegal quarrying and destroying trees.

Basic lessons

Environment as a topic deserves a fresh approach, starting with basic lessons for policy makers who do not seem to realize the importance of wetlands, river regulation zones, coastal regulation zones and mangroves. Everyone talks about learning about opportunities in every crisis, but no one seizes the visible opportunities.

To give a good example (pun intended) is the Mumbai flood of July 26, 2005. Successive governments have done very little to implement the Chitale Commission report on the same crisis. Admittedly, it is the pressure from activists and environmentalists that prompted the government to set up CCTV surveillance for mangroves and we need the people’s pressure to have a dedicated police force for environmental peace. It is in our interest and there is no harm in selfishness!

(The author is a media veteran, environmental activist and director of the NatConnect Foundation.)