Greens fume at backdoor plan to open up Matheran for development, locals uncertain

Environmentalists have strongly objected to the urban development department (UDD) inviting feedback on a proposal for a change in land use at hill stations in Raigad, including Matheran. They say the plan would serve as an excuse to open Matheran up for commercial exploitation at the expense of ecology.

TOI first reported on the government’s plan for the hill station on November 4. Of course, the state is now under President’s rule, and the plan’s future depends on the attitude of whoever succeeds in ultimately forming a government in the state.

In September, UDD issued a notification that the state wanted to change the Raigad Regional Town Planning Scheme to bring hill stations under the agriculture department. Exercising powers under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act, the government invited feedback from the public.

The question of land use in Matheran is a bit complicated. On one hand, administratively it is a municipal council. On the other, it is effectively a forest (according to environmentalists) since the Supreme Court, in a key directive with countrywide implication, notified Matheran as an eco-sensitive zone in 2001 (see graphic for details). Experts say the SC directive rendered Matheran into a protected forest, and hence, when it comes to lease rights, the provisions of the Bombay Land Revenue Code or the Transfer of Property Act are not applicable; after British-era leases expired in Matheran, they have been renewed by the collector, but after 2001, the area should have been transferred to the forest department.

“Instead, the government wants to change land use in Matheran, and also Maharashtra’s other three notified hill stations—Mahabaleshwar, Chikhaldhara and Buldhana—to agriculture. Unlike forest land, which comes with strong protections and guarantees from the central government, agricultural land can be easily converted for commercial exploitation,” said RTI activist Hemant Chajed.

Matheran, which literally means ‘forest top’, is the country’s only hill station that is car-free, thanks to a decades-old environmental movement, which was started in 1981 by the late environmentalist Shyam Chainani. Later, locals led by Piloo Richardson formed the Matheran Bachao Samiti against proposed developments.

The prospect of Matheran’s development is a matter of debate among locals. While some oppose it on environmental and heritage grounds, others welcome it for various reasons.

“The Union environment ministry prepared a zonal master plan and MMRDA an environment management plan to help in effective land use. Provisions for amenities like park or garden, parking, horse stables, etc, will ensure development,” said Matheran Hill Station Municipal Council’s chief officer Ramdas Kokare. But councilor member Shivaji Shinde (from Congress) said, “The MMRDA’s environment plan is good for buffer areas like Karjat, but not for Matheran. Local authorities should instead work on conditions on the ground. For example, permissions for repairing houses have been held up. Good roads and transportation should be provided. Doing this doesn’t involve change of land use at all.”

(Inputs by Clara Lewis)