A sudden fire on a six-acre plot in the polluted Dombivli MIDC area has got the residents concerned about recurring instances of trees being burnt in the area. Some trees got burnt and bird nests were destroyed which made the residents approach the police. On Wednesday around 3 pm a fire broke out on a Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) plot with an area of 22,690 square meters in Dombivli east. The plot was leased out to Dombivli Shikshan Prasarak Mandal/Pendharkar college by the MIDC. “On Wednesday afternoon the grass on this plot caught fire and it was smoke everywhere. We called in the fire brigade,” said Raju Nalawade, president, Dombivli Milap Nagar Welfare Association. “Some old trees got burnt in this fire and even the bird nests were destroyed,” he added. The residents are now concerned about this environmental damage as the area is heavily polluted due to the presence of chemical and other companies. “These trees and the greenery provided us with some respite from the pollution. And now even that has been destroyed,” he added. “A few months back the security guard on this plot was also removed. So the plot had become a breeding ground for anti-social elements,” he added. On Thursday the association gave a written complaint to Manpada police about the fire incident. When contacted, senior police inspector D Choure from Manpada police station said that they are going through the complaint. “We have just received the complaint and are investigating the matter,” said Choure. MIDC executive engineer Sanjay Nanaware was unavailable for comments. While Kalyan MP Shrikant Shinde who is vocal about environmental causes chose to remain mum over the issue. This is third such incident of trees being set on fire in the past six months in Thane district. In November last year over 30,000 trees were set on fire in an Ambernath village However, 60 per cent of those trees were saved. This incident was repeated again after a week in Ambernath.

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