Mumbai: The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) budgeted Rs 200 crore in its 2025-26 budget for the rehabilitation of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) encroachers. Last month, CM Devendra Fadnavis, in a meeting, directed the Thane collector to identify land for the rehabilitation of encroachers on forest land at SGNP as directed by the Bombay High Court.
During the recent legislative session, state forest minister Ganesh Naik informed the legislature that the govt was willing to rehabilitate slum dwellers who settled in SGNP up to 2011. It would do this after approval from the Bombay High Court. Early this month, Anita Patil, Conservator of Forests and Director, SGNP, in an affidavit before the high court, said the slum dwellers will be rehabilitated on land identified by the Thane collector.
In 1997, the court ordered the relocation of slum dwellers and the land restored to a forest. Slum dwellers settled on forest land prior to 1995 were eligible for rehabilitation and were asked to pay Rs 7,000. The rehabilitation was to be done in two phases. However, only 11,359 slum households were relocated to Chandivali near Powai in Phase I. Units for another 299 households are still pending. In Phase II, another 13,486 were to be rehabilitated. The height restrictions on account of the area being in the airport funnel zone did not allow high rises to be constructed in the area. Thereafter, the SGNP did not receive any housing units from the govt.
“The units that were emptied were taken over by new slum households and there was further expansion of slums too,” said SGNP officials on condition of anonymity. The dispute over land ownership has meant that the boundary wall around the SGNP has still not been completed. “The boundary of the SGNP has been fixed and this has been upheld by the Supreme Court. So all court cases disputing the boundary of the park are infructuous. Instead of delaying, the forest officials must construct the boundary wall immediately as directed by the high court in 2003,” said environment activist Debi Goenka, who has taken up the issue of removal of encroachers from SGNP.
The next date for the hearing is yet to be announced.