Pls save Mumbai's lungs.......... before its too late

The state forest department that did not leave any stone unturned to reclaim the private forest land and demolish the buildings, has, ironically, forgot its prime duty to protect the forests.
The ever increasing encroachments in Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), considered being Mumbai’s lungs, have always been a crucial problem to tackle. While, the officials are trying to remove the encroachments inside the park, new encroachments are taking place in the 104 sq km park virtually every day. The latest in the series of encroachment are the hutments that have come up along the boundary wall behind Yogi Hills, Mulund.
Though there are only two huts, claimed to be owned by tribals, hundreds of daily wagers have made make-shift living arrangements inside the park. Even the tribals living there have migrated from various parts like Palghar and Ghansoli. “We are living here since last 20 years. Earlier we used to live at Ghansoli, but when our hutments were demolished for development, we shifted here,” said Chandrakant Varthe, who claimed to be a tribal. He said that around 100 daily wagers, who are not tribal, use the land to sleep. “They are not tribals. But they come here in the evening spend night here and go to work in the morning,” Varthe said. According to him, forest department officials visit the area frequently. But nothing is done except for taking photographs and recording few statements, Varthe said.
Prakash Padikkal, president of Hillside Residents’ Welfare Association (HIRWA) said, “Encroachment in reserved forest is a serious matter and should be taken care of. If not checked in time, it is likely to spread to other parts.” The encroachers are involved in illicit tree cutting also which will snowball into disaster. The matter should be on top priority of the forest department and an additional staff should be deployed to control this, he added.
The assistant conservator of forest (ACF) VL Rathod claimed that since the huts belonged to tribals, they were protected. “We are conducting a survey in the area to identify encroachments,” Rathod said. Surprisingly, the officials have not done anything against an illegal temple constructed in the park, which serves as picnic spot for many people. Illicit tree felling in the area has increased manifold in recent past. So much so that people have fenced a patch of land on a hill to store timber and the officials were in dark about it.