Hundreds of Adivasis and their supporters on Tuesday blocked a campaign against the forest department’s encroachment inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), forcing officials to stop demolitions. In the afternoon, Forest Minister Ganesh Naik ordered that all actions be suspended until further talks were held with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
On January 17, the forest department had issued notices to at least 10 padas (villages) within the SGNP, warning of impending demolitions. The notices covered 385 homes in the Magathane, Malad and Gundgaon areas, and described them as “re-encroachment” homes, rebuilt by families who had previously been relocated but then returned.
The action dates back to a 1997 Bombay High Court order that ordered all encroachments within the SGNP to be removed. Families whose names appeared on the 1995 electoral rolls were to be rehabilitated. More than 10,000 families were allotted houses in Chandivali and Powai after paying Rs 7,000.
According to the Forest Department, 385 of these rehabilitated families later returned and rebuilt their houses within the park. Following a contempt petition filed in 2023 for non-compliance with the 1997 order, the High Court set up a High Powered Committee (HPC) to revive the process.
“It must be emphasized that unless the persons who have abused the rehabilitation scheme are evicted, other eligible families who have been waiting for rehabilitation for a long period will remain deprived of the benefits provided by the Hon’ble Court’s order of 1997, despite the best efforts of the Government and the SGNP administration to ensure their compliance,” said a statement by the chief forest conservator and director of the SGNP.
At a meeting on January 1, 2026, the HPC decided that the 385 reinvaders would be removed first. The committee includes Justice Dilip Bhosale, former chief justice of Allahabad High Court; Nitin Kareer, former chief secretary of Maharashtra; Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, former director general of police; and Anitta Patil, IFS, conservator of forests and director of SGNP.
Families named in the notices were asked to file objections by January 24, while the demolitions were scheduled between January 19 and 28. The protests intensified after Adivasi households estimated at around 40 by residents were included in the list. The agitations have continued for more than a week.
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“On Republic Day, a day of celebration of the Constitution that gave us our rights, forest department officials entered our houses and threatened to evict them,” said Dinesh Barap, an Adivasi resident of Navapada. “How can we Adivasis, the original inhabitants of the forest, be called invaders?”
Residents said the issue of rehabilitation was complex. “Some Adivasis accepted the houses, with some coercion. But the houses of the Adivasis who are being attacked right now are those of their children, who already had houses before rehabilitation was considered,” Barap said.
As the bulldozers arrived on Tuesday morning, Adivasis and their supporters from Aarey and other parts of the city gathered at Navapada, one of the largest villages in the SGNP. Four Adivasi houses were ready to be demolished, residents said. Other named padas include Chinchpada, Tumnipada, Ravanpada and Ketlaipada, which have both Adivasi and non-Adivasi residents. Protesters also blocked demolitions of non-Adivasi structures.
“All of us stayed at Navapada from 9am to 4.30pm to prevent demolitions until the bulldozers were removed,” said Kiran Tokare of Ketlaipada. “Some people from a santha here met an MCD delegation. Eknath Shindeand managed to pause the demolitions. But this is only temporary; Forest Department officials have warned us that they will return.”
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The Adivasis have cited the Forest Rights Act, 2006, under which their claims are still under verification. The Forest Department, however, said that the notices issued had already been rehabilitated and maintained that no original Adivasis remain within the park, claiming that they were relocated to Dahanu in 1977.
With political intervention, the demolitions were stopped for now. Forest Minister Ganesh Naik said, “The forest department has been asked to take into account the issues of tribals and their rehabilitation. Some of them will be given land plus a house in a 90-acre area very close by. Those who have returned after being rehabilitated will be explained the rules.”