India, May 13 -- The Thane District Wetland Monitoring Committee's recommendation that eight water bodies in Navi Mumbai and Thane should not be recognised as wetlands has triggered a major confrontation within the state's administrative machinery. The latest opposition to the committee's report, whose recommendations were made available earlier this month, comes from the state forest and mangrove departments headed by forest minister Ganesh Naik.

The controversy centres on flamingo habitats including TS Chanakya lake, NRI wetland (Flamingo Point), DPS lake, Jewel of Navi Mumbai, Lotus lake, Ganesh Mandir lake, Gothivali lake, Jijamata creek and Nilje lake.

The district wetland committee, under the Thane district collector, states that ...