Prasad Kathe, NDTV.com 17 May 08;
"The destruction of mangroves could invite long term disaster making the city more vulnerable to flooding each monsoon."
Mumbai's second international airport could soon come up in suburban Navi Mumbai as the Union Environment Ministry finally backed the project.
The ministry partly took the decision under pressure from the state government and Civil Aviation Ministry, even though a portion of the land allotted for the airport is covered with mangroves and falls in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ).
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said, ''There was some talk of shifting to an alternative location but now they have given us in-principle clearance. The airport should be ready by 2012.''
The airport project had come to a standstill in March after objections from the environment ministry.
Nearly a quarter of the 2000 hectare plot marked for the project is mangrove area and comes within the CRZ where construction is banned.
But now, the ministry has suggested changes in the CRZ notification, allowing construction in that belt, changes which are still awaiting final clearance.
Environmentalists are outraged at the decision, Debi Goenka, Conservation Action Trust said, ''With passenger traffic growing at the rate of 25 per cent each year. The city desperately needs a second international airport, but the destruction of mangroves could invite long term disaster making the city more vulnerable to flooding each monsoon.''
