Dahanu Taluka, Thane District, Maharashtra
Commissioned by –Dahanu Taluka Environment Welfare Association (DTEWA)

Dahanu Taluka lies within the Thane district and is located on the west coast of India in the Maharashtra state bordering GujaratLocated just 150 kms from Mumbai off the Western Express Highway and one of the main stations on the Western Railway; it is an ideal tourist destination suitable for weekend vacations.

Dahanu boasts of some very unique and varied environments, ranging from costal belts, creeks and mangroves, to hills, forest, rivers, streams and ponds. Due to unavailability of open lands in Mumbai and an accessible location of this town from Mumbai, the Dahanu Taluka is experiencing rapid urban growth. The present impetus towards aspirations of newly inflated incomes and the steadily increasing population have all put tremendous pressure on the town’s natural resources. Acres of mangroves have disappeared and degraded in the last few years, marshes have been filled in and green areas transformed into barren lands.

The Dahanu Taluka has been declared as an ecologically fragile area under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 on 20th June 1991. A development plan is under consideration for the town of Dahanu. However it fails to address the environmental sensitivity of the region and is based on standard methodologies of landuse allotment. The report is a critical appraisal of the development plan based on an understanding of the ecology of the region with an aim is to acquire a right balance between development and the environment