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  Metros   Mumbai  17 Aug 2019  Gorai mangrove park foundation laid

Gorai mangrove park foundation laid

THE ASIAN AGE. | SONALI TELANG
Published : Aug 17, 2019, 2:11 am IST
Updated : Aug 17, 2019, 2:11 am IST

The Rs 20 crore park will be built at 20-acre plot near Gorai jetty where visitors can go on boat rides amid mangroves.

Nitin Gadkari
 Nitin Gadkari

Mumbai: The groundwork for the Gorai mangrove park was laid on Friday as a bhoomipujan was held in the presence of state education minister Vinod Tawde and Union minister Nitin Gadkari. The Rs 20 crore park will be built at 20-acre plot near Gorai jetty where visitors can go on boat rides amid mangroves.

Highlighting the importance of mangroves, Mr Tawde, who represents the Borivali Assembly constituency under which Gorai falls, said, “Two grave challenges in the world today are water and air pollution. Contrib-uting to the ecological conservation efforts, the Bori-vali-Gorai Mangroves Park has been conceived to raise ecological awareness and create a platform for an eco-friendly lifestyle.” He added that such parks help alleviate flooding in the city and boost eco-tourism.

“The creek is treated as a dumping area where people discard garbage. In Kerala, similar bays are called backwaters and the southern state has enabled backwater tou-rism very well. This has also helped increase tourism there. We thought that something similar could be done in Maha-rashtra and that’s how the plan to develop a mangrove park was conceptualised,” he added.

Mr Gadkari said the project would help in restore balance in the environment, not only for Maharashtra but also for the country.  “Maharas-htra faces major challenge of water pollution and air pollution. Mumbai will be free of this in the future if people’s representatives undertake environmental projects and plans. The mangrove park is an ideal project,” he said.

A similar kind of park has been planned at Dahisar and boat rides will be initiated between both parks.

Tags: nitin gadkari, gorai mangrove park