RK Pole, Chief Conservator of Forests for Thane Circle has withdrawn the forest clearance granted to the Navi Mumbai airport. The clearance was granted on the grounds that the Navi Mumbai airport would be located more than ten kilometres away from the Karnala Bird Sanctuary,
as has been laid out in the environmental clearance rales of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). According to an Asian Age report by Rashmi Sehgal, ollowing pressure from Mumbai activists who actually measured the distance, Pole and his team resurveyed the area and found the distance was less than what had been claimed by the nodal agency, City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco). “We have conveyed our objections to the principal secretary and the Navi Mumbai authority will have to seek fresh permission from both the state wildlife advisory board and the central wildlife advisory board," said Pole.
Debi Goenka of the Bombay-based Conservation Action Trust said, "Birds and planes cannot co-exist. Not only will the Navi Mumbai airport prove a direct threat to the Karnala Bird Sanctuary, but it is going to adversely affect the eco-sensitive Matheran area and the 2,000-year old rock-cut Elphanta caves."
Another detail that the MoEF had not been appraised about, activists point out. was that the airport site has 130 hectares of reserve forest. Cidco will have to seek special permission for clearance of these forests." Goenka added. The proposed airport is also facing a land acquisition problem. It requires 2,042 hectares of land from which 1,405 hectares is already with Cidco, but 485 hectares of land is privately-owned.
as has been laid out in the environmental clearance rales of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). According to an Asian Age report by Rashmi Sehgal, ollowing pressure from Mumbai activists who actually measured the distance, Pole and his team resurveyed the area and found the distance was less than what had been claimed by the nodal agency, City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco). “We have conveyed our objections to the principal secretary and the Navi Mumbai authority will have to seek fresh permission from both the state wildlife advisory board and the central wildlife advisory board," said Pole.
Click here to see the original article>