Navi Mumbai has a picturesque setting of hills on one side and water clinging along its lenght on the other. Importance of Parks, green spaces and trees is more than the `lungs of the city’ as they affect our every day moods, activities and emotional health. They can improve the quality of our life in ways that are often underestimated. Nature in the form of undulating hill slopes and rolling landforms , water streams and ponds adjacent to city is proposed to be brought under the umbrella of ‘Navi Mumbai Nature Park’. NMNP spreads over an area of 2000 hectares across nodes from kharghar to nerul. The plans are at conceptual stage. Bombay Natural History Society ( BNHS) has been appointed for studying the biodiversity of the area and accordingly prepare master plans for the development of NMNP.
BNHS has recently submitted their observations on bio diversity survey in Nature Park. Based on their submitted guide lines, CIDCO proposes to prepare a Master Plan for the NMNP.
The six hills house several varieties of mammals like hanuman langur, black-naped hare, many species of rare birds, fishes, flowers, plants, butterflies, and reptiles which need to be preserved, the study says.
The survey suggests that the hills, host to several flowering plants and ponds, butterfly gardens and lily ponds, could be the attraction of the valley.
Altogether 487 plant species and 550 animal species were found and the pocket-wise study shows that Artiste Village, Valley Park and Kharghar hills are rich in terms of biodiversity. A part of the Western ghats, these hills of basalt rocks in the Sahyadri ranges host moist deciduous forests on the borders of Thane and Raigad districts.
A senior Cidco official said a plan of action to develop the park is yet to be evolved, adding it was the duty of agencies like the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation and the collectorate, to check quarrying and the brick kilns. But considering that Cidco itself has done precious little to check such activities which have been there long before the NMMC or the collectorate came into existence, it will be a job easier said than done.
