Sanjay Gandhi National Park

Sanjay Gandhi National Park is a 87 km² (34 sq mi) national park in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was established in 1969 with its headquarters situated at Borivali.^[1]

Sanjay Gandhi National Park
Borivali National Park
IUCN category II (national park)
Main gate of the park
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Location	Mumbai, Maharastra, India
Coordinates	19°15′N 72°55′E
Area	87 km2 (34 sq mi)[1]
Established	1996
Named for	Sanjay Gandhi
Visitors	2 million per year
Governing body	Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Website	sgnp.maharashtra.gov.in

The 2400-year-old Kanheri Caves, sculpted by monks out of the rocky basaltic cliffs, lie within the park. The national park attracts more than 2 million visitors every year.^[2]

History

A 7 m (23 ft)-tall Buddha statue at entrance to the largest Kanheri cave

The Kanheri caves, located centrally in the park, were important Buddhist learning centres and pilgrimage sites sculpted by Buddhist monks between the 9th and the 1st centuries BCE.^[3] They were chiselled out of a massive basaltic rock outcropping.^[4] In 1996, the park was renamed to Sanjay Gandhi National Park, after Sanjay Gandhi. The same year, some forests from the Thane division were merged into the park, further expanding its total area to 103.84 km² (40.09 sq mi).^[5]

Geography

The park occupies most of the northern suburbs of Mumbai. To the west lie the suburbs of Goregaon, Malad, Kandivali, Borivali and Dahisar. To the east lie the suburbs of Bhandup and Mulund. To the south lies the Aarey Milk Colony and the university campus of IIT Bombay. The northern reaches of this forest lie in Thane city. The park and the areas surrounding it, except Thane city, are all part of Mumbai. It is the only protected forest located within the limits of a city.^{[citation needed]}

Wildlife

Dense forest

River in the park

Sanjay Gandhi National Park is home to over 1,000 plant species, 251 bird species, 5,000 insect species, 150 butterfly species, 40 mammal species, 38 reptile species and nine amphibian species.^[6][7]

Flora

Karvi flower (Strobilanthes callosus)

In the state of Maharashtra, the mass flowering of karvi has been observed to occur in Mumbai in the same year as in the hill station of Khandala and one year earlier in Bhimashankar and Malshej Ghat, beyond Kalyan.^[8]

Fauna

Bonnet macaques in Sanjay Gandhi National Park

Reptiles living here include crocodiles in the Tulsi Lake, pythons, cobras, Checkered keelback, Common krait, monitor lizards, Russell's vipers, bamboo pit viper and Indian cat snakes.^[7] In 2003, pugmarks and droppings of a Bengal tiger were found in the park. Although the tiger was never widely sighted, it did bring some excitement to city folks as records of tiger being found here are quite old and forgotten now with the last tiger being shot down 80 years earlier in the region.^[9] Conservation was also proposed for the interlinked habitat corridors and nearby forest areas in the state along with upgrading their status as tiger habitat.^[10]

Some of the birds in the park are jungle owlets, golden orioles, racket-tailed drongos, minivets, magpies, robins, hornbills, bulbuls, sunbirds, peacock, and woodpeckers. Migratory and local birds such as the paradise flycatcher and various species of kingfishers, mynas, drongos, swifts, gulls, egrets, and herons have also been spotted.^[7]

Threats

The leopard threat still continues in and around the Thane district today, with repeated sightings as well as attacks on pets and humans. On 16 July 2012, a seven-year-old girl was killed in Mulund right outside her home by a leopard. A year later, a 40-year-old woman was attacked and killed by a leopard in Bhiwandi, Thane City, in 2013. Five days later, a 14-year-old shepherd survived a leopard attack in the same region.^[11] In 2014, a two-year-old child went missing from Ghoong village in Wada.^[12] August 2015 saw four leopard attacks in Thane city.^[13] In one incident, a leopard and her cub dragged a one-year-old Rottweiler off.^[14]