For all practical purposes, the Navi Mumbai airport?s environmental problems have been resolved, although a formal decision will be taken by a committee early next month. As environment minister Jairam Ramesh said at his joint press conference with aviation minister Praful Patel, 65-70% of the differences have been ironed out. This involves reducing the distance between the two runways, ensuring that one ?river? doesn?t get diverted but allowing the hills to be levelled ? So what?s the lesson to be drawn here? Cooperation, that?s what. While the environment ministry was intransigent to begin with and rejected the project, a lot of pressure ensured the environment and aviation ministries sat down and tried to see how the damage to the environment could be minimised. So why not do that for other projects like Posco and Vedanta? No project can be set up without some damage to the environment or with zero displacement of people, the question is how this can be reduced to the minimum and to see how compensatory action such as afforestation and resettlement can be undertaken.
So far, the environment ministry has tended to be antagonistic. Orissa MPs argue this is selective and that one set of standards is applied to Opposition-run states like Orissa and another to Congress-run states?in the case of the Polavaram dam in Andhra Pradesh, the consent of tribal villagers in Orissa was not obtained before clearing the project, while in Niyamgiri, the Orissa government has been pulled up for not obtaining the consent of tribals. We needn?t get detained by the facts and counterfacts of the case, but the broad point has to be of the need to be collaborative since, at the end of the day, there is no doubt India needs more industrialisation. In the Posco case, the fact-finding mission has cited the presence of 21 tribals in the voters? list as proof of the fact the company and the Orissa government are lying (both had said there were no tribals). Surely, the company could have been asked to look for the tribals again instead of just a blank condemnation? More so since, as the report of the head of the mission said, the area was not one where tribals are to be found. Equally important is to ensure fact-finding missions are packed with experts, not activists. The credibility of the entire process depends on this. In the case of the Posco project, the head of the team?s report describes the forest as ?mainly sandy waste, with some scrub forest, apart from the casuarina plantations in the area …? while the other report says ?about 70% area of the forest land is covered with various kinds of forest and trees …? Which report is to be believed?
The Navi Mumbai airport issues got resolved because of the high-profile nature of the city, and the fact that aviation minister Praful Patel is an important ally. Not all projects can boast of a similar pedigree when it comes to supporters. Are they all to fall by the wayside?