Enviroronment Minister tells Maharashtra CM to find another site for Navi Mumbai airport project

[Guest guest]

NEW DELHI: The swanky new international airport being planned at Navi

Mumbai could face a crashlanding with environment minister Jairam

Ramesh

 

writing a scathing letter to the Maharashtra chief minister suggesting

that the state should look for another site for a second international

airport for the country's financial capital.

 

The letter has put to rest speculation that the environment ministry

had given any clearance to the project proponents -- City and

Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO). The airport being

developed through the public-private partnership route and estimated

to cost Rs 3,200-4,000 crore to handle 50-55 million passengers

annually, would now face an uncertain future.

 

The letter from the environment minister points out that the chosen

site includes 150 hectares of mangrove land and 340 hectares of

coastal marshy lands including 118 hectares of water body.

 

Ramesh has made it clear that unlike the proposal the Maharashtra

government and the project's proponent has mooted, the original

mangroves are irreplaceable and no compensatory afforestation is

possible as a substitute. He has written that eminent scientists have

also warned of the grave danger that the project poses at the site and

that the site is of great ecological value and should not be harmed.

 

The strong letter from Ramesh comes after the ministry too had written

to the state government making it clear that the project developers

are required to seek environmental as well as coastal regulation

clearances. The issue of whether the project clearance will require an

additional forest clearance is another consideration that may come up

later.

 

A recent amendment to the coastal regulations making airports a

`permissable' activity in the coastal area had led the Maharshtra

leaders and bureaucracy to claim that the airport had got the green

signal from the Union government.

 

Some sections of the Maharshtra government had also gone to town

claiming the high court had given it a go ahead and therefore it

didn't even need to take any clearance from the Union environment

ministry.

 

But the ministry had clarified that by making airports a permissible

activity the Centre had merely ensured that proposals for clearance

for such projects could be entertained in the future -- which was not

permitted earlier. The Navi Mumbai airport proponents would still have

to apply for all environmental clearances.

 

CIDCO is yet to apply for any clearance, sources in the ministry

clarified. Now with the environment minister himself taking a strong

position against the airport even before the application arrives, the

fate of the Navi Mumbai airport could be sealed.

 

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