Maharashtra’s Forest Department de-reserves land for Western DFC

The Maharashtra Forest Department has dereserved 58.15 hectares of forest land for the Western DFC project by issuing a final order on February 29, 2016. Of the total land dereserved, 10.86 hectares belongs to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, 16.17 hectares lies in the Thane Forest Division and 31.12 hectares in the Dahanu Forest Division. According to the order, the diversion of land to the project has been approved by the MoEFC), the National Board of Wildlife, the National Green Tribunal and the Bombay High Court. The order does not offer any comment on a set of mitigating measures suggested by the Bombay Natural History Society.