Flashpoints
Disappearing mangroves in the Kachchh: The districts of Kachchh and Jamnagar have been declared the most dominant mangrove areas in Gujarat. Some of the biggest and thickest mangrove jungles are on the Kachchh coastline covering a 890 sq km stretch and protected under the crz as eco-sensitive areas. However, irrespective of the area's natural wealth, Kachchh is swiftly being transformed into a flashpoint of commercial activity. The Adanis' private port in the Mundra taluka , (an administrative block) in Gujarat, poses a threat to a 53.3 sq km area of mangrove forests under the forest department. In the first week of September, a probe was ordered into the alleged largescale felling of mangroves in this region. According to a report in a national daily, the assurance to investigate the felling of "several thousands of mangroves to ensure enthusiastic implementation of the policy of port-led industrialisation' was given by principal secretary (environment and forests), P Basu, to the Forum for Planned Industrialisation ( fpi )