The civil aviation ministry on Wednesday sought the intervention of the Prime Minister?s Office to make the ministry of environment and forests see reason over the need for a second airport in Mumbai. Though the Maharashtra government finalised on the 5,000 acres site in Navi Mumbai for the second airport way back in 2007, it has been facing continuous hurdles from environment and forest agencies.
With the expert appraisal committee under the environment and forest ministry scheduled to meet on Friday, civil aviation secretary M Madhavan Nambiar on Wednesday met TKA Nair, principal secretary in the PMO, to discuss the issue.
Nair, who is a former environment secretary, is said to have appreciated the ministry?s concerns about the urgency for a decision on Navi Mumbai.
A top government official, who did not wish to be named, said, ?The PM can call a meeting of Praful Patel and Jairam Ramesh. The two ministers haven?t met so far to discuss the Navi Mumbai airport.? Ramesh?s concerns on the presence of rivulets and mangroves can be addressed, the official added.
Cidco vice-chairman and MD Tanaji Satre wrote to the ministry on August 10 detailing the issues on which the environment & forest ministry sought clarifications last month.
There were primarily four issues: i) the reason for selection of Navi Mumbai as the site for the second airport, ii) were alternative sites 100 km outside of the Coastal Regulation Zone considered? iii) reasons for not carrying out a social impact study and iv) enhanced maps of the proposed site in Navi Mumbai.
According to government officials, Kalyan, another site in Mumbai, 50 km off the airport on Shil Road, was considered. But the National Security Advisor MK Narayanan had then raised security-related concerns since the site had a BARC facility besides some defence land. ?So this was rejected,? the official said.
A ministry official said, ?CIDCO has been asked to furnish a detailed reply to questions and issues raised by the environment ministry. Cidco and state officials will discuss these issues with the civil aviation ministry over the next two days.? The Airports Authority of India and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation too are likely to be involved in the discussions. Both sides will work towards a meeting ground when they meet on August 20.
The ministry decided to tap the PM?s door after Ramesh raised questions over the environmental impact of the proposed project in Navi Mumbai. Patel has made it clear that only Navi Mumbai fits the bill and that no alternative site was available.
The PMO has been monitoring the progress of the Rs 9,600-crore project and has taken meetings on it in the past. The project received initial impetus during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh?s previous tenure when he held charge of the Environment portfolio too. At that time, the Coastal Regulation Zone Act that prohibited construction within 500 metres of the coastline was amended to provide exemption to the Navi Mumbai airport project.