Before Mumbai got obsessed with glass towers and 50-floor living, the Kolis were the ones holding down the coast across 30+ koliwadas. They built an entire culture around the tides and mangrove ecosystems long before anyone thought of pouring concrete over them. But as 70% of those coastal wetlands were chopped down and reclaimed for overpriced apartments, it wasn’t just the trees that vanished—the Kolis watched their ancestral lands, livelihoods, culture, and history get pushed out to make room. Now, Mumbai’s original coastguards are facing the harsh reality of systemic displacement, trying to coexist with a coastline they barely recognise.

The math just isn’t mathing here. Those mangroves aren’t random bushes to the Kolis—they’re their main hustle and entire way of life. But every time a new project gets greenlit, a chunk of Koliwada life gets quietly deleted to make space for luxury flats they’ll never even step foot in.

So yeah, we aren’t just watching a coastline disappear; we’re watching an entire community get systematically evicted. Their fishing spots are wrecked, their waters are choked, and their roots are being ripped out.

Meeting the Coastal Insiders

In the latest episode of GP World, Green Pistachio’s founder, Avnee Kokatay, takes a walk through the Versova mangroves with two people who know this coastline and the community better than anyone:

  • Aslam Saiyad: Visual anthropologist, media teacher, and founder of Hallu Hallu, who leads ethnographic walks that help Mumbaikars slow down and actually see what they’ve been driving past.
  • Ranjhans Tapke: Proud Koli community member, General Secretary of the National Association of Fishermen, and a fierce advocate for the people who’ve called this coast home for over 700 years.

Together, they stroll, chat, and low-key unravel a coastline drama most of us didn’t know we were part of. It’s part nature walk, part reality check, and fully worth your time.

Head over to our YouTube channel to watch the full episode and see how this unfolds!

Not Just Another Nature Documentary

This isn’t just another nature documentary—it’s a wake-up call for a city in denial.

Most of us only care about mangroves when the roads get waterlogged, but those green patches are actually doing five major jobs at once—cleaning the air, stopping floods, absorbing carbon, keeping the coast cool, and supporting the Koli community. 

For generations, the Kolis have stood as our frontline defence, protecting these coastal ecosystems way before concrete took over. Destroying these waters strips away their daily catch, forces families off their land, and leaves our AQI in the dust. By standing by the Kolis and defending their ancestral grounds, we don’t just save our air and coast—we back Mumbai’s original community so they can keep living, fishing, and thriving right where they belong.

If this story moved you, then don’t just watch—act. Subscribe, share, and start a conversation. Because the Kolis aren’t asking for sympathy. They’re asking for survival. And a seat at the table when it comes to developing their homeland.  And that’s the least we can give the people who’ve kept Mumbai afloat for centuries.

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