Nerul: Despite repeated complaints and appeals by environment activists, CIDCO is yet to take action and clear the debris dumped in Lotus Lake in sector 27 Nerul. The waterbody was in the news after debris was being dumped in the lake at the behest of CIDCO in clear violation of Bombay High Court orders.

However, acting on complaints filed by Sunil Agarwal and Adv. Pradeep Patole, the petitioner in the public interest litigation filed before the Bombay High Court, a group of forest officers led by Sudhir Manjare, range forest officer, Mangrove Cell,

visited the site on June 12.
“Since it is a freshwater lake and there are no mangroves nearby, the lake does not fall within the jurisdiction of the mangrove cell, hence it is not the right authority to take any action,” Manjare said.

Meanwhile acting on the complaint filed by activist Dayanand Stalin, director, Vanashakti, Akshay Gajbhiye, secretary, Konkan Wetland Grievance Redressal committee and deputy conservator had directed CIDCO to clear the debris from the water body.

The complaints should be immediately taken into consideration, along with verifying all related documents, the official said.
Meanwhile, CIDCO was yet to initiate action on the complaint by environmental activists to clear the lake of the debris. Sunil Agarwal, founder, Save Lotus Lake Group, had sent an e-mail to Vijay Singhal, vice chairman and MD, CIDCO, on June 7.

Reminding CIDCO that the lake was part of the National Wetland Atlas, Agarwal, he exhorted the nodal agency to initiate steps to conserve the natural waterbody.

With all appeals to CIDCO falling on deaf ears, the citizen group plans to stage a protest on June 15.