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Navi Mumbai: On the occasion of World Wetlands Day on Sunday, environmental activists formed a silent human chain around the 30-acre DPS Flamingo Lake in Nerul to advocate for its designation as a conservation reserve. Former Airoli MLA Sandeep Naik also participated in the initiative and pledged to raise the issue in appropriate forums. “I cannot be a silent spectator to this destruction of the environment,” he said.
Participants displayed placards with messages like ‘Wetlands Are Not Wastelands’; ‘Don’t Kill Nature’s Beauty’; ‘Save Flamingo Homes – Our Wetlands’; ‘Protect Nature – It Will Protect You’; ‘Don’t Turn Pink Lake Into Red’; and ‘Flamingos Homeless in Flamingo City’.
Environmental groups plan to meet forest minister Ganesh Naik, who last year visited the lake and raised his voice against the blockage of the entry points of tidal water, to discuss preserving DPS Flamingo Lake as part of the city’s biodiversity.
A Supreme Court ruling protects intertidal wetlands, requiring conservation of areas up to the high tide line. “Our message is loud and clear. This wetland must be cleaned up immediately and the intertidal water flow restored as the entry points of creek water have been blocked by a road,” said NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar.
He expressed concern that despite Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd’s commitment to preserve biodiversity near the project, certain groups are deliberately damaging wetlands like DPS Flamingo Lake.
Kumar reiterated that the wetland was meant to be designated as a conservation reserve following the state committee’s decision. Last month, a high-level committee appointed by the state forest ministry had decided to declare wetlands as a conservation reserve.
Sandeep Sareen from Navi Mumbai Environmental Preservation Society affirmed the group’s commitment to restore and maintain the lake as a conservation reserve.
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