Environment panel to re-assess Navi Mumbai airport plan
By IANSFriday, October 15, 2010
NEW DELHI - The environment ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) will visit Mumbai next week to hold talks with the Maharashtra government on the Navi Mumbai airport project, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Friday.
The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) Thursday submitted a revised draft of the project and the EAC team will visit the site Oct 21-22.
“They have reworked the design and we will be able to save 600 acres of the 1,000 acres of wetlands. The new design also prevents diversion of one of the two rivers,” Ramesh told reporters here.
The environment ministry and aviation ministry have been at the loggerheads over the delay in environment clearance to the Navi Mumbai airport.
According to the environment ministry, the construction of airport at the proposed site in Navi Mumbai will lead to destruction of a mangrove forest and diversion of two small rivers.
