Environment ministry holds back clearance over the project's impact on Karnala bird sanctuary.
The much-delayed Navi Mumbai International Airport project suffered a fresh threat this week, after the environment ministry held back its approval over the impact it could have on the nearby Karnala bird sanctuary and the risk to aircraft from migratory birds.
The wildlife committee of the ministry on Wednesday expressed its reservations about the project, saying that air traffic could disturb the bird sanctuary, which is located just 10 km away.
Karnala is the only bird sanctuary in the Western Ghats and ecologists have been saying that the airport could also affect other wildlife in the region. Cidco, which is the nodal agency for the project, received clearance from the environment ministry two years ago, but it apparently did not mention about the bird sanctuary.
According to the rules, projects planned within a 10 km radius of such protected areas required the approval of the wildlife authorities, which is why the issue was referred to the ministry again. The wildlife committee is expected to visit the site for the airport soon, before arriving at a final decision.
Cidco officials believe the project is of national importance and that it will go through despite the reservations. “We will try to meet the conditions and work around them,” said a senior Cidco official.
The airport project was planned to ease the congestion at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The Navi Mumbai airport would handle about 60 million passengers annually, almost double the travellers who pass through Mumbai airport currently.
Proposed to be built at a cost of Rs14,500 crore, the first phase of the airport was to be operational by 2014, but this has been delayed repeatedly mainly due to problems over the acquisition of land. A large part of the funds have been earmarked for compensation to those whose land is being acquired.
While about 70% of the land required has been acquired, the rest is locked in disputes and CM Prithviraj Chavan is personally looking into the matter. It is feared that the proposed new norms for land acquisition could make it even more difficult to buy land and increase the cost.
A couple of years ago, concerns were also raised about the impact the project might have on the mangroves.
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