A panel of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has given the ‘green signal’ for the Navi Mumbai international airport project. With this, Mumbai may finally get its new airport now. The proposal had also received an intense push from Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan who had met Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan to clear hurdles in its path.
In its recently held meeting, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) cleared the proposal recommending forest clearance with several conditions for diversion of around 250 hectare of forest land in Raigad. It had already got the environmental clearance in 2010.
One of the main concerns of the FAC was mangrove forest in the area sought for diversion and while recommending approval, it has clearly laid down that afforestation of man¡¡grove species over an area equivalent in extent to mangrove forest area being diverted has to be raised and maintained by the user agency at their own cost.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.