RAHUL WADKE

Locating the airport at Panvel will be ecologically harmful as it would require destroying mangroves and changing the course of two rivers.

If you are on National Highway 4B towards Panvel, to your left is a vast expanse of land criss-crossed by rivers and swamps.

No threat seen to eco environment in Matheran hills or Karnala bird sanctuary.

Ashwini Phadnis

Rahul Wadke

The fragile eco environment in Matheran hills and Karnala bird sanctuary is unlikely to be affected by the proposed Navi Mumbai airport coming up at the Panvel site.

Sources indicated that the report of the City Industry and Development Corporation (CIDO) suggesting mitigation mea

An expert committee set up by the Union environment ministry will hold a crucial meeting next week to decide on giving environmental clearance to the Navi Mumbai Airport project.

The state government has promised to submit a newly drawn map on Navi Mumbai to the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) which will arrive here on September 22.

The panel has been raising a lot of questions on administrative lapses related to the Navi Mumbai airport project.

Mumbai The state government approved a new Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) map of Navi Mumbai area on Thursday after the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) had objected to the old map submitted for environmental clearance for the proposed airport site.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh perhaps said nothing new when he stated that India had environmental concerns. But he echoed the sentiments of Indira Gandhi expressed at the Stockholm conference in 1972 when he added that the environment could not be protected by perpetuating poverty. There was need for a right balance. The environment ministry has in recent months created confusion.

Sanjay Jog / Mumbai September 9, 2010, 0:26 IST

The signboard at Kopra-Panvel, about 35 km from the existing Mumbai airport at Santa Cruz, was put up with much fanfare in 2004 after the site was finalised for the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport. Six years later, time seems to have stood still at the site

The Environment Ministry has assured the Prime Minister that it will help in finding an early resolution to the deadlock over the Navi Mumbai airport project but has also requested the Maharashtra government and the Civil Aviation Ministry to show some flexibility on the issue.

The assurance has come in response to a communication from the PMO asking the Environment Ministry to expedite its dec

THE Navi Mumbai airport project is back on track. With the Maharashtra government and the civil aviation ministry agreeing to address ecological concerns, environment minister Jairam Ramesh has conveyed to the prime minister that things were moving forward on the project.