Citizens Continue Their Decade-Long Fight To Conserve An Urban Lake

It is the end of March and migratory birds are slowly bidding farewell to the Indian wetlands until next year. A 30-acre flamingo habitat behind Delhi Public School (DPS) in Nerul, Navi Mumbai, is slightly parched due to water blockage, with almost half of its surface covered in algae from water stagnation. The DPS Flamingo Lake, a satellite wetland of Thane Creek (a Ramsar site), is popular as it attracts migratory birds, but has faced neglect regarding its conservation for over a decade.

Earlier this year, the Maharashtra forest department initiated the process of granting “conservation reserve” status to the lake and citizens have been campaigning for the lake’s protection through this status with an online signature petition that more than 3000 people have joined so far.

“It is pure joy for any resident of Navi Mumbai to have a lake within the city. The mangroves around it are our saviours from floods, providing us better air,” says Rekha Sankhala, a 53-year-old resident of the NRI Complex, Seawoods, near the Thane Creek, who has been living in Navi Mumbai since 2003.

On World Wetlands Day, February 2, 2025, concerned citizens and environmental activists formed a silent human chain around the lake, wielding placards like “Wetlands Are Not Wastelands,” “Don’t Turn Pink Lake Red,” and “Save Flamingo Homes – Our Wetlands,” etc. The protest was against the continued deterioration of the wetland due to deliberate blockage of intertidal water flow.

“If such water bodies are not protected, Navi Mumbai will lose its character as a ‘flamingo city.’ It will soon be like any other city with a vast landscape of tall buildings. The authorities who are supposed to implement government policy are working against it. And we, the citizens, have to leave our work and fight with them to save what they should be doing,” says Sunil Agarwal, a 62-year-old resident of the NRI Complex.

Flamingo deaths and high-profile interventions

Earlier in 2024, several cases of flamingo deaths at the site sparked concern. Reports say that seven flamingos died in January 2024 after flying into a signboard, and another 10 died in May due to disruptions in the water flow.

“Flamingos exhibit strong site fidelity. They tend to return to the same place year after year. If they don’t get the desired ecosystem on their usual roost site, they may become disoriented, which can lead to their death due to collisions on the road, hoardings, etc.,” explains B. N. Kumar, director of NatConnect Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation based in Navi Mumbai.

Following public outcry at that time, the state government intervened. Then Chief Minister Eknath Shinde ordered an inquiry into the flamingo deaths. The state government, in July 2024, announced the appointment of a high-level state committee headed by the Principal Secretary of the Forest Department to study the ways and means to conserve the lake as a natural flamingo habitat. The committee conducted its survey and finalised its recommendation to designate the lake as a “conservation reserve” on September 23 but didn’t make it public. NatConnect Foundation sought the details of the committee recommendation via RTI.

The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO), a city planning agency controlled by the Maharashtra government, was also a part of the committee. CIDCO is responsible for the development and management of Navi Mumbai, including developing urban infrastructure and managing environmental conservation projects such as wetland conservation. The group argued, at the committee meeting, that the issue of developing the DPS Flamingo Lake is still pending at the Supreme Court. But the committee asked CIDCO to allow intertidal water flow by keeping the water inlet points 3 and 4 at the lake, open till the Supreme Court gives its verdict on the said issue.

In December 2024, after media reports on water stagnation in the lake, Maharashtra Forest Department’s Mangrove Cell inspected the site, finding CIDCO non-compliant with the committee’s ruling. Of the two pipes allowing the creek water to flow into and out of the lake, the mouth of one of the pipes towards the lake end was blocked using a plastic sheet and plywood, whereas the other pipe was above the water level in the lake. This prevented water flow. Mangrove Cell again asked CIDCO to remove the obstructions from the pipe to ensure proper water flow into and out of the lake. Since DPS Lake is an intertidal wetland, the water levels in the lake increase only during the high tides at Thane Creek.

NatConnect Foundation complained to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who intervened in December and directed the Forest Department to act on it.

However, these high-profile interventions seem not to be working, as local people are still protesting to conserve the lake. In 2025, the state Environment Department again ordered an inquiry into the lake degradation.

Conservation versus development

The struggle to save DPS Flamingo Lake dates back to 2010-11 when residents raised alarms over debris dumping threatening to reclaim the wetland. The lake’s ecological issues began gaining attention when the Navi Mumbai Environment Preservation Society (NMEPS) and Vinod Kumar Punshi in the Bombay High Court filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court in 2013. The PIL raised the issue related to the destruction of wetlands and mangroves in Navi Mumbai, including concerns related to DPS Flamingo Lake. In November 2018, the high court restrained CIDCO from “..destructing the DPS lake in any manner by carrying on any development activity” in the area covered by the lake. CIDCO was also directed to remove the debris and ensure free creek water flow into the lake.

In 2022, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) embraced the ‘Flamingo City’ identity, painting murals of pink birds across the city. However, the struggle to protect the habitat continued as CIDCO’s development plans are still on.

For example, CIDCO has constructed a 600-metre road between the mangrove area and the wetland, and an access road for the Passenger Water Transport Terminal (Nerul Jetty). The construction disrupted the flamingo lake by blocking tidal water flow, causing it to dry up and threatening the flamingo habitat.

“The access road to Nerul jetty blocked the main inlet from the creek on the southern side of the lake as it was buried under the road and three more inlets on the eastern side were blocked too, due to which the lake dried up,” says B N Kumar, director of NatConnect Foundation.

This violated Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ-I) rules, which protect tidal wetlands and mangroves by prohibiting construction that obstructs water flow. CIDCO’s October 2017 undertaking promised not to block DPS Lake’s tidal inflow. However, constructing the bund and access road to the Nerul jetty also breached the undertaking and the 2018 high court order.

Not only that, but CIDCO also wrote a letter to the police department when NMMC replaced the existing 300 mm pipe with a 600 mm pipe and drew water from the creek after it completely dried up in May 2024. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and now the state’s cabinet minister for forests, Ganesh Naik, had warned CIDCO, NMMC, and the forest department officials to open the blocked channels. CIDCO sending a letter to the police department reinforced the perception of its neglect of the lake’s conservation, says Rekha Sankhala.

CIDCO’s actions contradict its assurances to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) that it would follow the Bombay Natural History Society’s (BNHS) recommendations to protect biodiversity in the airport region. Under a joint venture with the Adani Group, CIDCO is developing the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) through Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited (NMIAL), located about 5-7 km from DPS Lake.

BNHS had recommended conserving key ecological habitats, including the Non-Residential Indian Complex, Delhi Public School area, T S Chanakya area, Panje, Nhava Sheva Police Station area, and Jasai, warning that the destruction of these sites could push flamingos toward NMIA, increasing the risk of bird strikes and threatening air safety. Despite these commitments, CIDCO has failed to act, allowing water stagnation in DPS Lake, making it unsuitable for flamingos and contributing to their deaths, as seen in May 2024.