Minister of civil aviation Praful Patel’s insistence on an early clearance to Mumbai’s second international airport seems to have nose dived yet again.
City Industrial and Development Corporation (CIDCO)’s latest submissions for the Navi Mumbai airport have failed to incorporate any of the suggestions made by Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh.
The key suggestion made by him was to use the land allotted to the Special Economic Zone south of the site rather than destroy the mangrove forests which lie to the north. This SEZ is being developed by the Mukesh Ambani group. The minister had also asked the CIDCO officials to do away with building five-star hotels and shopping malls in this site so as to minimise environmental damage.
As per the discussion which had taken place between Mr Ramesh and Mr Patel, the new plan was to exclude all non-essential elements in the airport so as to reduce its environmental impact on the shore-side plot. But the latest plan has incorporated none of these suggestion. CIDCO officials have made it clear that they cannot alter their plans any further and cite civil aviation ministry rules which make the building of corporate terminals and hotels an integral part of any new airport. The ministry of environment & forest (MoEF) sources point out that CIDCO’s latest plans, which will be considered by the Expert Appraisal Committee on September 22, highlight an even greater amount of area coming under the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) 1 where development activities are in any case subject to much greater scrutiny. Whereas the earlier plan had shown 30 per cent of the airport site falling under CRZ 1, their new plan has extended the space to 40 per cent of the airport site.
The two key contentious issues are the 400 hectares mangrove forests and the two key rivers which have to be diverted. MoEF sources point out that there is no way that these CIDCO changes “will be accepted.” But the minister of civil aviation has assured Mr Ramesh that a new curtailed plan for the Navi Mumbai airport will be submitted very soon to the ministry.
On September 3, the PMO had forwarded a letter from Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan asking for a decision on the Navi Mumbai airport expedited. Mr Ramesh pointed out that he was willing to be cooperative but wanted the chief minister and the civil aviation minister to show greater environmental sympathy.
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‘India to phase out HCFCs’
New Delhi : India will phase out ozone- depleting substance hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), used for refrigeration and air-conditioning, by 2030, environment minister Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday.
This will be achieved in line with the Montreal Protocol, a treaty to protect the ozone layer. “By 2013, we are going to eliminate the use of HCFCs at 2009 levels,” Ramesh said. —PTI