Dear Sirs / Madam

Panje is a 223 hectare large wetland, with marshes and mangroves and other water bodies, just 60 km from Mumbai. It is a paradise for over 200 varieties of resident and migratory birds.

Nestled between the Panje and Dongri villages, these wetlands are a home to precious species like flamingos, storks, weavers, skimmers, common shelducks, munniyas and countless others

Several like painted stork, curlew sandpiper, eurasian curlew are on the IUCN endangered list

Several like the bar tailed godwit travel 11,000 km from Siberia and stopover at Panje for rest, refueling and recharging and often nesting and giving birth. Over 2 billion migratory birds visit Panje every year

This biodiversity is under threat from land reclamation, land fills and ill planned development initiatives. 

The BNHS report of Mar 2017 studied the impact of birds on the newly proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport and recommended protection of several wetland zones including the Panje - Funde Zone, Uran. If these wetlands were not protected, it added that the birds would get diverted to the Airport area and cause a lethal security risk to the air crafts and the people flying in them. 

While the authorities announced in 2015 that this area will be protected, no action was taken

We urgently request you to Notify the Panje Wetlands as a Protected Bird Sanctuary

You may like to refer to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUZK8DbKsZ0

With best regards

Chandru Chawla

and many other responsible citizens of India