Residents of Lokhandwala Complex in Andheri West have alleged that mangroves were being cut on a land parcel near the area’s Backroad, prompting demands for urgent intervention from the Maharashtra Forest Department, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and other authorities. The allegation has not been independently verified, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had not responded to questions about the site or the reported activity at the time of publication.
The Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens Association, a residents’ group active in the area, shared a video on social media that it said showed the green-covered land parcel. The video contains what appears to be the sound of a chainsaw, but the supplied report does not establish when the recording was made, who was operating the equipment or whether the vegetation shown was mangrove growth.
The group’s post identified the location as a land parcel adjacent to Lokhandwala’s Backroad in Andheri West and tagged officials and departments, including the Maharashtra Forest Department and the Union environment ministry. Residents called for immediate action to stop what they described as the cutting of a large area of mangroves.
Dhaval Shah, co-founder of the citizens’ association, said the video had been recorded by a resident who requested anonymity. According to Shah, the sawing continued for around four hours near noon. He said residents believed the land parcel appeared to be government-owned and described the reported activity as abnormal for the area.
The report also records a resident’s suggestion that the land could fall under the BMC and that the activity might be connected to the proposed Coastal Road North project. That connection remains unconfirmed in the supplied material. No project document, official site record or statement from the civic body was provided to establish the land’s ownership, the status of any proposed work or a link between the alleged cutting and the coastal road project.
That missing information is central to the issue. A video showing vegetation and an apparent chainsaw sound may prompt a complaint, but it does not by itself establish the nature of the vegetation, the extent of any cutting, the identity of the person or agency involved, or whether an authorised activity was under way. These facts would require a site inspection and confirmation from the competent authorities.
The incident nevertheless highlights the difficulty residents face when activity occurs on land whose ownership and administrative control are unclear. The association’s appeal was directed at multiple authorities, while the available account does not identify which agency is responsible for inspecting the parcel, protecting the vegetation or disclosing the status of any related infrastructure proposal.
The BMC’s public relations office was contacted late on Wednesday evening for a response on the alleged cutting and ownership of the land parcel. The supplied report states that no immediate response had been received. There is also no response in the supplied material from the Maharashtra Forest Department, the Union environment ministry or any agency associated with the proposed Coastal Road North project.
For residents, the immediate question is whether the reported activity took place and whether mangroves were affected. The next questions concern the parcel’s ownership, the permissions governing any work there and the authority responsible for enforcing environmental protections at the site. None of those questions is answered conclusively by the material currently available.
The allegation should therefore be treated as a request for official verification rather than as an established case of illegal mangrove destruction. A formal inspection, a statement identifying the landholder and responsible agency, and disclosure of any relevant work permission would establish what happened. Until those steps are documented, the extent and cause of the reported activity remain unclear.