Mumbai: Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) authorities are required to construct 308 watchtowers, approximately one every 500 metres along the park’s boundary wall, on the directions of the Bombay high court to ensure constant monitoring so no new encroachments take place.Kiran Patil, deputy director, SGNP, in charge of the south division (Borivli) of the park, said they surveyed the area where the park is encroached, and in this section, 61 watch towers are required. “We will construct only these many watchtowers in the south division,” he said. Pradip Patil, deputy director, SGNP, in charge of the north division (Yeoor, Thane), said around 23 watch towers are proposed to be constructed in the north division in phase one in the current financial year.The boundary wall around the national park is supposed to be 154 km in length. So far, 50 km of the wall has been constructed. The balance is pending on account of slum encroachments, litigations over land ownership, existence of a private boundary wall and natural boundaries. Officials said the govt has sanctioned Rs 194 crore for construction of another 70 km of the boundary wall for the current financial year.“The boundary wall in certain areas is likely to obstruct the movement of wild animals, so there is a study currently underway to identify areas where there is no encroachment and there is no likelihood of encroachment in future as well, so the wall will not be required in such sections. This will enable the wildlife to move easily,” said officials.Kiran Patil said currently 16 km of the boundary wall is to be constructed in the south division, but nearly 13 km of land is encroached upon. “Work is underway on three km,” he said. In the north division, there have been angry protests by local residents to watch towers, said officials.“While theoretically we are required to construct 308 watch towers, on the ground it would not be possible and practically there is no requirement for so many towers,” said sources.The SGNP has sought more security personnel to patrol the park. Park authorities have identified 21 locations in the park where it is setting up protection camps. “The security personnel will be stationed at these camps. They will regularly go up to the watch towers to ensure no new hutments are coming up on the park land.” The Bombay high court in its 2025 order directed the govt to complete the work on the boundary wall within a year. However, unless all the slum dwellers are relocated, it will be difficult to complete the wall.In 1997, the court ordered the relocation of slum dwellers and restoration of the land to a forest. Slum dwellers settled on forest land prior to Jan 1, 1995, were eligible for free housing and were asked to pay Rs 7,000. The rehabilitation was to be done in two phases. However, only 11,359 slum households were relocated to Chandivali near Powai. Units for 299 households in phase I and 13,486 in phase II are still pending. Over the years, the slums have grown and the state govt has now decided to rehabilitate all slum dwellers. Slum households post 1995 and up to 2011 will get housing on payment of Rs 2.5 lakh, while post-2011 slum households will be provided rental housing. The govt has identified land in Thane district for the rehabilitation of slum dwellers, but there is strong opposition to the relocation from residents as well as elected representatives, including those from the BJP.
