Dr Girish Salgaonkar, a fisher from Charkop, remembers a time when people used to grow vegetables in Kandivali. He rues the loss of their traditional way of life, catalysed by land reclamation and the destruction of mangroves. Now, with the construction of the coastal road, the threat of losing more mangroves has returned. In March, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) issued a public notice to change the land use of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) areas from Goregaon to Dahisar for Phase 2 of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project. They invited public feedback and held a meeting on May 23 to…

Karnataka has long worn its forests as a crown, steeped in folklore, sanctified in song, and stitched into its cultural identity. None captured this reverence better than cultural icon and cinema legend Dr Rajkumar, whose evergreen lines, "Naaviruva Thaanave Gandhada Gudi. Andada Gudi Gandhada Gudi. Chandada Gudi Srigandhada Gudi," remain etched in the Kannada psyche. These words weren’t just poetic tributes—they were declarations of love for the sacred groves of this land. At the heart of this green devotion lies Bengaluru. Now known for its traffic and tech parks, the city once breathed through its 35 forest blocks, spread across…