Mumbai: The Konkan Wetland Grievance Redressal Committee is going to launch a helpline for quick redressal of issues related to reclamation and destruction of wetlands.
Last year, the Maharashtra Forest Department came up with a 24x7 helpline number, 1926, for enquiries and grievances related to forest and wildlife. The same number will now be available for queries regarding reclamation or illegal constructions in wetlands of Mumbai.
“We will be appointing two nodal officers for each district who will be trained for wetland related issues. It will help in creating a larger database, thereby escalating the redressal process,” said Mr Jayaram Gowda, member-secretary, Konkan Wetland Grievance Redressal Committee. The committee will be receiving monthly reports from the call center. A website for registering complaints about wetland destruction will also be launched this month. The complainant can track whether the committee has received, processed or disposed of the grievance.
In 2013, the Bombay high court had banned any kind of construction or reclamation of wetlands across the state.
The Asian Age had earlier reported that in an initiative to curb down the reclamation and commercial destruction of wetlands, the Konkan Wetlands Redressal Committee will take back the wetlands from private owners if they are not able to protect it.
Wetlands help in reducing the impact of flooding by recharging the ground water and maintaining the water quality in rivers.
Quick redressal
The committee has received 17 major complaints related to wetland destruction this year out of which 11 have been resolved. Most of them are from Palghar district and Eastern suburbs with five complaints in Mumbai wetlands.
