Union environment ministry panel to meet on the question of giving environmental clearance to the project.
An expert committee set up by the Union environment ministry will hold a crucial meeting next week to decide on giving environmental clearance to the Navi Mumbai Airport project. The meeting is expected to explore the possibility to approve a modified version of the plan, taking into consideration the objections of the committee.
The project came into focus after prime minister Manmohan Singh last week assured chief minister Ashok Chavan of his “personal attention” in giving the project its due. The project has been under the environment ministry’s lens because it proposes to destroy nearly 400 hectares of mangroves, the mainstay of the coastal ecosystem.
“The committee will meet early next week, possibly on Tuesday,” said a ministry official. According to him, the Maharashtra government is yet to submit the detailed maps the committee has sought.
The official refused to comment on when the final decision would be taken on the fate of the Rs10,000-crore project. “We cannot say this way or that. It has to be seen,” he said, adding that the committee will do its job and has not changed its constitution.
The airport project has also been kept pending by the ministry as it also involves the rerouting of two rivers and the flattening of a hill.
The committee had questioned the state government about why it had not explored an alternative location for the project. Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh recently pointed out that according to the original recommendations, Rewas, which lies south of Navi Mumbai, was originally to be the site.
The opposition Shiv Sena has attacked the location of the project, saying it is motivated by commercial interests. The 1,140-hectare airport site is located north of 2,100 hectares belonging to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. Ambani plans to set up a special economic zone, originally meant for IT and BPO companies.
The environment ministry has recently suggested alternatives like shifting the airport site further to the south by acquiring land meant for Ambani’s special economic zone and shifting non-essential components such as hotels and shopping malls outside the core region etc.
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