Asserting that the matter was not pending before his Ministry, Mr. Ramesh, in a letter to Mr. Patel, said: “Let me clarify that the matter is not pending with my Ministry. I fully understand the need for a new airport for Mumbai, but, at the same time, I hope you will appreciate that the present proposal has substantial environmental impacts especially in the coastal area. These include loss of 300 acres of mangroves, diversion of two rivers, levelling of an 80 metre high hill and significant coastal zone management issues."
Reeling out facts to put across his point, Mr. Ramesh said the MoE&F first received the proposal for developing a green field airport on August 27, 2007. The final amendment of CRZ notification 1991 making airports a permissible activity in Navi Mumbai was issued on May 15, 2009. The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) submitted the proposal for the new airport on June 22, 2009. The Terms of Reference (TOR) for conducting the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study were issued by the Ministry on August 4, 2009.
The letter said that considering the substantial environmental and coastal impacts that the new airport is likely to have, the Environmental Appraisal Committee of the Ministry undertook a site visit on December 23, 2009. This visit could not take place earlier because of the general elections and monsoon. Based on this visit, additional TOR for the environmental impact assessment was issued by the Ministry on February 8, 2010." Read the full report here.
Source: Sujay Mehdudia, The Hindu, New Delhi
