No horsing around? Study warns of dung pollution in pedestrian-only Matheran
The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, through a panel report, has informed the National Green Tribunal that equine activity was environmentally unsustainable in Matheran hill station
Matheran, about 80 km from Mumbai, was set up by the British colonials in the 1850s. The town has barred all fuel-run vehicles except emergency services, such as ambulance and fire brigade. Visitors must park their vehicles at Dasturi Naka, around 3 km away, before beginning the ascent to Matheran.
The hill station is an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) and the modes of transport for residents and tourists include 74 hand-pulled rickshaws, 460 horses used for transporting passengers and a narrow-gauge ‘toy train’, which takes around two hours to cover the 20-odd km from Neral to Matheran.
Goods and other essentials are brought uphill using 127 licenced porters and over 200 ponies. The Supreme Court, as a pilot project, has allowed 20 battery-powered e-rickshaws to ply.
Some residents complain that because of the motorised-transport limitations, Matheran’s students are put to great physical disadvantage due to the long distances they must cover on foot, leaving them with little time and energy for extra-curricular activities. The aged, differently-abled and the convalescing are also forced to restrict their movement or stay confined to their houses. However, others fear that the introduction of e-vehicles may gradually open the floodgates for other classes of motorised vehicles.
In his petition to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Matheran resident and retired teacher Sunil Shinde had claimed that horse dung damaged the ecology, caused pollution and affected the health of the people.
A joint committee formed by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) submitted its report to the Western Zone Bench, Pune, of the NGT in the hearing on January 30. The final expert conclusion has concluded that “equine activity in its present scale and spatial form is environmentally unsustainable in the Matheran Eco-Sensitive Zone”.
“Effective protection of Matheran’s air quality, drinking-water sources, soil health and ecological integrity cannot be achieved through downstream cleaning alone,” the report said, adding that it required source-level intervention, namely strict regulation and phased reduction of horses, relocation of stables outside the limits of the Matheran ESZ, zoning of routes and protection of water catchments, and continuous monitoring over three to five years to validate outcomes.
“If implemented as recommended, Matheran can evolve into a national model for scientifically-managed, pedestrian-only ecotourism, fully consistent with the precautionary principle, carrying capacity doctrine and ESZ governance framework. Failure to act, on the other hand, will result in progressive, and potentially irreversible, degradation, undermining both environmental integrity and the very tourism economy that depends on it,” the report said.
The NGT has allowed the counsels for the Mulvasi Ashwapal Sanghtna, Sthanik Ashwal Sanghatana and Sthanik Ashwal Sanghatana two weeks’ time to file their say.
“It is found that air quality assessment at the site in question was done across pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon phases, which reveals that PM10 and PM2.5 levels breached the CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) standards, the root cause being equine dung emissions and dust from unpaved roads. SO (sulphur dioxide) and NO (nitrogen dioxide) pollutants remain under control, highlighting that Matheran’s air pollution is not industrial but rather a unique challenge of a vehicle-free yet horse-reliant ecosystem,” the NGT said.
“As regards water pollution, it is found that in samples collected from five sites, i.e. WS1 to WS5, E. coli ranged from 5-10 CFU/100 mL in the lake sites (WS1-WS3), up to 25 CFU at the stream site WS4 and 100 CFU at the stagnant Simpson tank WS5. These counts violate drinking water norms (both the Bureau of Indian Standards and World Health Organization mandate 0 CFU in 100 mL). The presence of E. coli confirms faecal contamination, almost certainly from horse dung,” the NGT added, noting that samples showed the presence of heavy metals.
“With respect to soil contamination, it is recorded that Phase II (monsoon) soil quality assessment demonstrates that equine activity in Matheran poses highest environmental and public health risk during the rainy season. Faecal indicator bacteria and Salmonella were widely detected in soils,” the NGT order said.
However, Lahu Shingade, member of the Mulvasi Ashwapal Sanghatana, an association of horse owners, pointed to concerns about their livelihoods being affected. “We have been rearing horses for three to four generations, and my grandfather, who is 96 years old, has even slept in horse stables,” he said.
Shingade added that despite being an ESZ, there was a proliferation of illegal lodges in Matheran, and many hotels discharged their sewage directly into water bodies. He questioned why this was not being objected to while horse owners were being targeted. He, though, admitted that they needed to clear horse dung at Dasturi naka.
Matheran was developed during British rule. In May 1850, Hugh Poyntz Mallet, the district collector of Thane, chanced upon a quaint spot in the Western Ghats that was gradually developed as a hill station. Popular legend has it that the town was named Matheran after a villager told Mallet in Marathi: ‘Mathe raan haay’ (There is a forest up there). Gradually, the British and the colonial elite used Matheran to escape the summer heat of Mumbai, a tradition that was continued post-Independence by domestic tourists.
Apart from protected wildlife habits, the hill stations of Matheran and Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani and the coastal town of Dahanu in Palghar, which borders Gujarat, are among the few areas to be designated as ESZs. On February 4, 2003, the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change had declared Matheran an ESZ. It prohibited industrial and developmental activities that have a detrimental effect on the environment.
A report submitted by the MPCB to the NGT in April 2025 had said that the use of horses for travel and commuting at the hill station has caused significant damage to the environment.
Matheran has a population of 4,393, according to the 2011 census, down from 5,139 in 2001. The floating population in the tourism and hospitality industries is significant. Around 800,000 tourists visit Matheran annually. Monsoon tourism is also catching on in the hill station.
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Matheran, about 80 km from Mumbai, was set up by the British colonials in the 1850s. The town has barred all fuel-run vehicles except emergency services, such as ambulance and fire brigade. Visitors must park their vehicles at Dasturi Naka, around 3 km away, before beginning the ascent to Matheran.
The hill station is an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) and the modes of transport for residents and tourists include 74 hand-pulled rickshaws, 460 horses used for transporting passengers and a narrow-gauge ‘toy train’, which takes around two hours to cover the 20-odd km from Neral to Matheran.
Goods and other essentials are brought uphill using 127 licenced porters and over 200 ponies. The Supreme Court, as a pilot project, has allowed 20 battery-powered e-rickshaws to ply.
Some residents complain that because of the motorised-transport limitations, Matheran’s students are put to great physical disadvantage due to the long distances they must cover on foot, leaving them with little time and energy for extra-curricular activities. The aged, differently-abled and the convalescing are also forced to restrict their movement or stay confined to their houses. However, others fear that the introduction of e-vehicles may gradually open the floodgates for other classes of motorised vehicles.
In his petition to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Matheran resident and retired teacher Sunil Shinde had claimed that horse dung damaged the ecology, caused pollution and affected the health of the people.
A joint committee formed by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) submitted its report to the Western Zone Bench, Pune, of the NGT in the hearing on January 30. The final expert conclusion has concluded that “equine activity in its present scale and spatial form is environmentally unsustainable in the Matheran Eco-Sensitive Zone”.
“Effective protection of Matheran’s air quality, drinking-water sources, soil health and ecological integrity cannot be achieved through downstream cleaning alone,” the report said, adding that it required source-level intervention, namely strict regulation and phased reduction of horses, relocation of stables outside the limits of the Matheran ESZ, zoning of routes and protection of water catchments, and continuous monitoring over three to five years to validate outcomes.
“If implemented as recommended, Matheran can evolve into a national model for scientifically-managed, pedestrian-only ecotourism, fully consistent with the precautionary principle, carrying capacity doctrine and ESZ governance framework. Failure to act, on the other hand, will result in progressive, and potentially irreversible, degradation, undermining both environmental integrity and the very tourism economy that depends on it,” the report said.
The NGT has allowed the counsels for the Mulvasi Ashwapal Sanghtna, Sthanik Ashwal Sanghatana and Sthanik Ashwal Sanghatana two weeks’ time to file their say.
“It is found that air quality assessment at the site in question was done across pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon phases, which reveals that PM10 and PM2.5 levels breached the CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) standards, the root cause being equine dung emissions and dust from unpaved roads. SO (sulphur dioxide) and NO (nitrogen dioxide) pollutants remain under control, highlighting that Matheran’s air pollution is not industrial but rather a unique challenge of a vehicle-free yet horse-reliant ecosystem,” the NGT said.
“As regards water pollution, it is found that in samples collected from five sites, i.e. WS1 to WS5, E. coli ranged from 5-10 CFU/100 mL in the lake sites (WS1-WS3), up to 25 CFU at the stream site WS4 and 100 CFU at the stagnant Simpson tank WS5. These counts violate drinking water norms (both the Bureau of Indian Standards and World Health Organization mandate 0 CFU in 100 mL). The presence of E. coli confirms faecal contamination, almost certainly from horse dung,” the NGT added, noting that samples showed the presence of heavy metals.
“With respect to soil contamination, it is recorded that Phase II (monsoon) soil quality assessment demonstrates that equine activity in Matheran poses highest environmental and public health risk during the rainy season. Faecal indicator bacteria and Salmonella were widely detected in soils,” the NGT order said.
However, Lahu Shingade, member of the Mulvasi Ashwapal Sanghatana, an association of horse owners, pointed to concerns about their livelihoods being affected. “We have been rearing horses for three to four generations, and my grandfather, who is 96 years old, has even slept in horse stables,” he said.
Shingade added that despite being an ESZ, there was a proliferation of illegal lodges in Matheran, and many hotels discharged their sewage directly into water bodies. He questioned why this was not being objected to while horse owners were being targeted. He, though, admitted that they needed to clear horse dung at Dasturi naka.
Matheran was developed during British rule. In May 1850, Hugh Poyntz Mallet, the district collector of Thane, chanced upon a quaint spot in the Western Ghats that was gradually developed as a hill station. Popular legend has it that the town was named Matheran after a villager told Mallet in Marathi: ‘Mathe raan haay’ (There is a forest up there). Gradually, the British and the colonial elite used Matheran to escape the summer heat of Mumbai, a tradition that was continued post-Independence by domestic tourists.
Apart from protected wildlife habits, the hill stations of Matheran and Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani and the coastal town of Dahanu in Palghar, which borders Gujarat, are among the few areas to be designated as ESZs. On February 4, 2003, the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change had declared Matheran an ESZ. It prohibited industrial and developmental activities that have a detrimental effect on the environment.
A report submitted by the MPCB to the NGT in April 2025 had said that the use of horses for travel and commuting at the hill station has caused significant damage to the environment.
Matheran has a population of 4,393, according to the 2011 census, down from 5,139 in 2001. The floating population in the tourism and hospitality industries is significant. Around 800,000 tourists visit Matheran annually. Monsoon tourism is also catching on in the hill station.
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