“Panchhi nadiya pawan ke jhonke, koi sarhad na inhe roke…” (Birds can fly where they want/ water can take its course/ the wind blows in every direction/ no barrier can stop them) — thus go the Javed Akhtar penned lyrics of the song from the movie Refugee (2000, J. P Dutta). As I read about the Panje wetlands in Uran, I wondered if these lyrics hold true today, when human interference is wreaking such havoc on natural environments, and keeping these very elements out.
But then, I also wondered if I should refer to Panje, a 289-hectare inter-tidal zone, as “wetlands” in the first place. Especially since a former tehsildar of Uran had declared that not only is Panje not a wetland, but that there are no wetlands anywhere in Uran.
Is Panje a wetland?
Is Panje a wetland? Not if you go by a letter issued by CIDCO to the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, in response to a missive from the Maharashtra Mangrove Cell seeking to conserve wetlands in the area, including Panje.
CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited), a Government of Maharashtra undertaking, was established on 17 March 1970 under the Indian Companies Act,1956 with a mandate to develop a satellite town to Mumbai. It now works as the New Town Development Authority (NTDA) and Special Planning Authority (SPA) of Government of Maharashtra, entrusted with planning and developing urban infrastructure in new towns, providing municipal services and executing large scale infrastructure projects.
Panje is a part of the Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone (NMSEZ) which was formed when the Government of India approved CIDCO’s proposal to form a Special Economic Zone In Navi Mumbai. CIDCO developed it in partnership with investors, owning 26% stake itself. The balance 74% is held by Mukesh Ambani, Anand Jain of Jai Corp, and Sea King Infrastructure Limited (SKIL).
NMSEZ was eventually converted into an Integrated Industrial Area (IIA) in 2019 and is now called NMIIA.
CIDCO’s letter clearly states, “As per sanctioned NMDP (Navi Mumbai Development Plan), these lands fall in ‘Special Economic Zone’. They are developable lands. Most of these lands were agricultural lands/paddy fields as per land revenue records and were acquired by Govt and handed over to CIDCO for Navi Mumbai project.”
But if you go by the around fifty bird species found here — thirty one migratory, six near-threatened and one of vulnerable category — Panje should be considered a wetland for sure. Environmentalists and activists have pointed out that the Panje wetlands have been drying up due to contrivances such as sluice gates and culverts which CIDCO has built. They also say the gates are frequently shut, blocking the flow of water. This amounts to the destruction of the habitat of the flora and fauna, especially the birds that roost here.
Green activists like Nandkumar Pawar of Sagar Shakti and B N Kumar of NatConnect Foundation have been waging a battle to save these wetlands.
Scientist and former researcher at the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Mrugank Prabhu, who has spent hours studying the avifauna of Panje and has co-authored a study on wetlands, says these lands, which had a wetland ecology, were reclaimed by CIDCO to form Navi Mumbai. Given this background, he wonders why they should not be called wetlands, especially when the birds are using the holding ponds in Panje.
He further explains that what constitutes a wetland is decided by the state and Maharashtra is in the process of reaching this definition.
CRZ violations at Panje
If there is a debate around whether Panje is a wetland, there is none about the fact that it falls under the Coastal Regulation Zone 1 (CRZ1). This means that according to this notification, construction activities cannot take place here. Despite this, CIDCO has constructed seventy sluice gates and 8 to 9 culverts to control tidal water flow.
A reply to an RTI query filed by Nandkumar Pawar of Sagar Shakti shows that permissions and clearances were not obtained for construction of the wall and the sluice gates were built without permission despite Panje being a CRZ 1 zone.
Nandkumar says that the sluice gates have been constructed so that the water of the high tide cannot enter the area; and conversely any water which has got collected is drained out. This will leave the land dry, so that it may be used for construction activities.
Read more: Photo essay: threats to Kharghar’s ecosystem
Significance of the Panje wetlands
Panje draws migratory birds by the droves, especially in winter. Many of these migratory birds fly in from as far away as Russia or Kazakhstan. Some of them stop here for refuelling and then fly further. These birds practise site fidelity which means that they migrate to the same site every year, another reason why the preservation of these wetlands is important.
Mrugank explains that coastal birds roost on sand dunes or along the shore. But when there is a high tide, they need another place — intertidal zones like the Panje wetlands. Unfortunately, BNHS had to eliminate this site from their surveys because they had no access to it any longer.
The Panje wetlands are not only a site of great biodiversity but also play an important role in flood mitigation, Kumar explains, “What happens is when you reclaim land to that level and you bury all the wetlands around you in all the areas, water finds its own course and flows into villages. Water has already started causing unseasonal flooding in Uran villages, in an area which had no history of flooding.” He points out that water has now started flowing into paddy fields, thus ruining them for farmers. The locals are being doubly affected: flooding and loss of land usable for agriculture.
Nandkumar reiterates this. He says, “This wetland is a holding pond designated as a flood mitigation area by CIDCO. Dronagiri node is a huge node built on 2740 hectares of land. 99% of this land is wetland, estuaries, creeks, mudflats, and marshy land. Ecologically sensitive land, you could call it.”
In January 2024, Dayanand Stalin of the NGO Vanashakti filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) for the protection of the wetlands. In response, the Bombay High Court directed Vanashakti to present an appropriately framed representation to the Joint Secretary of Revenue and Forests Department.
Stalin says, “We have already deposed before the Principal Secretary, Forest. Two hearings were supposed to be held, but because of the election etc the second one has not been done. We want it to be declared a sanctuary.”
What does it mean to fight for the Panje wetlands?
For National Geographic Explorer, wildlife film-maker and photographer, Aishwarya Sridhar Panje had always provided an opportunity to capture the diverse and resplendent beauty of the wetlands with her lens. These form her portfolio of photographs and a documentary called Panje The Last Wetland. The name signifies one of her last connections to the locality where she grew up, as the other wetlands in Uran, which she visited almost every weekend with her father, have disappeared.
Aishwarya talks of the changes she has seen over the past fifteen years or so. Security cabins with guards stationed outside have come up on this land. Once, while trying to take photos she was threatened and verbally abused by the guards. She has not visited Panje in the past four to five years now.
Read more: How Chanakya mangrove forest was destroyed, despite extensive legal protections
Despite these experiences she remains hopeful saying, “I am waiting for the day Panje opens, so that I can set foot there again and click more photographs of the place.”
For Nandkumar, a fisherman himself, Panje is a rich habitat of fish, birds and mangroves. It also represents for him a means of livelihood for his community of fisherfolk. For him, fighting for Panje means fighting for the rights for the fishing community. It also means facing threats, being gheraoed, or even attacked like he was in December 2023, and yet keep going.
He has been filing complaints when the sluice gates are shut, taking the fight to the high court like he did in 2018. He has also filed several RTI queries to find if CIDCO had sought permission for construction in a CRZ 1 zone. His unrelenting pursuit to conserve the wetlands has brought some significant breakthroughs occasionally: For example, in November 2020, the State Environment Director directed the Collector of Raigad district to ensure free flow of tidal water by opening the sluice gates. But the relief was short-lived, with setbacks and continuing violations.
Nandkumar’s wish for Panje is simple, “We would like to say that this land which is the habitat of so many birds should be left out of the development plans…we only ask that this should be maintained as a CRZ area by opening up of inlets which allow tidal waterflow.”
B N Kumar of NatConnect Foundation, believes that citizens need to be aware and keep an eye on their environment. He does this by tirelessly campaigning to save natural habitats, staying abreast of the twists and turns in the timeline of events surrounding the wetlands, persistently writing to concerned authorities, filing RTI queries, carrying out meticulous research, and carefully collecting and archiving the documents related to Panje. He has been working to conserve not just Panje, but other coastal habitats too.
Kumar says, “One most important aspect about the migratory birds is that they are the ambassadors of good environment. They carry the message of good environment from one place to another place.”
For the locals who are invested in the preservation of the wetland, it is an almost constant struggle. Locals involved in conservation efforts have spent sleepless nights at the thought of losing their precious wetlands. They have been intimidated by other residents of the area who want it to be developed, and have still carried on their fight undaunted. One of them says, “If nature survives, we survive.”
There do not seem to be many takers for that, though, as the story of the Panje wetlands unfolds. In the end it seems we are intent on creating borders that exclude even natural flora and fauna from their rightful habitats.
Also read:
- Flamingo deaths in Navi Mumbai: A wake up call
- Saving Navi Mumbai’s mangroves, one week at a time, for over 150 weeks
- Photo Essay: Tell me this is not a wetland!