India, Oct. 4 -- A wall built to starve mangroves of water near the Oshiwara creek, potentially allowing them to perish and allow a developer to usurp a large land parcel in Andheri west, will be demolished.

The demolition has been ordered by the state environment department, which has asked the Mumbai suburban district collector to raze the illegal wall in the mangroves' buffer zone, and demarcate the mangroves according to the maps of 2005. The work is expected to be completed by December.

The issue had been raised during the monsoon session of the state legislature by Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC Anil Parab. The controversy related to the destruction of mangroves, illegal land reclamation, and a conspiracy to occupy 350 acres of land at Pahad...