New Delhi: The 65 meetings, considerable heartburn, angry public exchanges, and eventual compromise propelled Mumbai to this point today - the deal for a new airport has finally been struck. (Read: What the new airport means for Mumbai)
The Civil Aviation and Environment Ministers - Praful Patel and Jairam Ramesh - said the construction at Navi Mumbai can begin.
"We have bargained, negotiated and compromised. It's essential to be dogmatic... finally, the environmental clearance has been accorded. The process of building the airport can start," affirmed Ramesh, who as Environment Minister had asked for several changes to the blueprint to protect the ecologically-sensitive area where the new airport will be birthed.
In the next two years, Mumbai's Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport will exhaust its capacity of 40 million passengers per year.
Ninety eight hectares of mangrove forest will be felled, but the onus is on the Maharashtra government to ensure an additional 660 acres are planted around the airport.
"The only issues they seem to be focussing on are mangroves and river diversion. But what is going to happen to Matheran, with aircrafts flying over it every 60 seconds? What is going to happen to the World Heritage monument of Elephanta when you have low flying aircraft either landing over it or taking off over Elephanta? What is going to happen to the Karnala Bird Sanctuary similarly?" asks local environmentalist Debi Goenka.
The Civil Aviation and Environment Ministers - Praful Patel and Jairam Ramesh - said the construction at Navi Mumbai can begin.
"We have bargained, negotiated and compromised. It's essential to be dogmatic... finally, the environmental clearance has been accorded. The process of building the airport can start," affirmed Ramesh, who as Environment Minister had asked for several changes to the blueprint to protect the ecologically-sensitive area where the new airport will be birthed.
In the next two years, Mumbai's Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport will exhaust its capacity of 40 million passengers per year.
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Ninety eight hectares of mangrove forest will be felled, but the onus is on the Maharashtra government to ensure an additional 660 acres are planted around the airport.
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"The only issues they seem to be focussing on are mangroves and river diversion. But what is going to happen to Matheran, with aircrafts flying over it every 60 seconds? What is going to happen to the World Heritage monument of Elephanta when you have low flying aircraft either landing over it or taking off over Elephanta? What is going to happen to the Karnala Bird Sanctuary similarly?" asks local environmentalist Debi Goenka.
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