Daijiworld Media Network - Thane
Thane, May 19: The National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) has completed physical verification, or “ground-truthing”, of all but 11 out of 23,415 wetlands in Maharashtra, clearing the way for their legal protection under the Wetlands Rules.
Ground-truthing involves field surveys to verify the existence, boundaries and present land use of wetlands against satellite imagery. The exercise is considered essential before wetlands can be officially notified under environmental laws.
According to data uploaded on the Maharashtra wetlands dashboard maintained by the NCSCM, the remaining 11 wetlands pending verification are located in Pune district.
The verified wetlands include 247 in Thane district, 1,093 in Raigad district, 37 in Mumbai city and 210 in Mumbai suburban district.
Ahmednagar district recorded the highest number of wetlands in the state with 1,596, followed by Nashik with 1,236 and Chandrapur with 1,231.
B N Kumar, director of NatConnect Foundation, criticised the delay in the exercise, saying the process should not have taken 16 years since the launch of the National Wetland Atlas.
“The prolonged delay has already caused considerable damage to Maharashtra’s wetland ecosystem, especially in biodiversity-rich areas like Uran and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, where wetlands faced debris dumping, encroachments and land reclamation,” he said.
Kumar urged the government to immediately notify the wetlands and provide them legal protection now that the ground-truthing exercise is nearing completion.
The NCSCM, which functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, had been assigned by the Maharashtra government to conduct satellite mapping, documentation and field verification of wetlands identified under the National Wetlands Inventory and Assessment launched nearly two decades ago.
The ministry had also launched the decadal-change version of the National Wetland Atlas in 2020 to monitor changes in wetlands over time, though Maharashtra’s verification work continued to lag.
Nandakumar Pawar, director of environmental group Sagarshakti, claimed that destruction of wetlands in Uran had aggravated flooding in the region.
Officials said the verified wetland maps would now be sent to district administrations and the State Wetland Authority before the notification process begins.