Navi Mumbai Airport: Will replant mangroves 200 km away: state

Mumbai Keen to get clearance for the Navi Mumbai airport, the state plans to replant around 350 hectares of mangroves in Dahanu, 200 km from the site. The Centre will be informed of the decision following a public hearing in the next 15 days.
The state has appointed the Gujarat Ecology Commission, an expert in mangrove replanting. “The mangroves will be compensated from Navi Mumbai to Dahanu and we hope the central environmental committee accepts this,” said Minister of State for Environment Sachin Ahir.

Mumbai University has been appointed to study the 10-km creek surrounding the mangroves and the airport site. Lewis Environmental Services of the US and DHI of Denmark, along with Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune, will study the diversion of Gadhi and Ulwe rivers. The government, along with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), will conduct a public hearing on May 5 following which the report will be submitted for clearance.

Ahir said the project does not face environment hurdles and the government is keen on completing the first phase by December 2013. “We have also prepared an action plan for the eight most polluted centres in Navi Mumbai,” he said. A central committee had found high levels of pollution and said no project could come up for eight months.

Rishi Agarwal of the Mangrove Society of India said replanting mangroves is not an option. “Panvel will lose the rich cover of mangrove and since Dahanu is 200 km away, the impact of the plantation will be hardly felt.”

Link - http://www.expressindia.com/latest-n...-state/611322/

The policy makers are ruining the nation and people at an unacceptable level.

It has been well proven that the loss of mangrove forests is one of the foremost reasons to have adverse impact in the event of Tsunami.

Researchers claim that Tsunami is a common phenomenon in the sea and that there is catastrophic impact only due to the loss of coastal bio-diversity.

The very same policy makers who are now very keen in destroying the pitiful remains of mangrove cover will shed false tears cajoling bereaved families when there is loss of human lives due to cyclone and tsunami. After all it is the poor community which is going to suffer.

The proposal is absolutely condemnable.

One more aspect: Why do scientists keep claiming they can artificially replicate an entire mangrove ecosystem successfully?

Across the world, forest plantation efforts bore positive results when implemented in arid regions. But re-plantation initiatives in mangrove / tropical / deciduous ecosystem have not proven to be so successful. And they are always fraught with risk. An ecosystem is not the flora that you see - its also the soil, the aquatic, subterranean life etc. An artificial re-plantation is similar to an organ transplant - the risk is too high.

Development is important; but not at this price. This is simply hara-kiri!:angry:

Well they haven't understood the concept of ecosystem. They think it is the case of a few trees. Each individual component of the ecosystem is equally important. Can you imagine an aeroplane with one window pane broken? Unfortunately, history will continue to repeat itself, as we don't care to learn from our past follies.

IUCN has warned that mangroves ( Sonneratia griffithii ) found in India are critically endangered. It further states that 80% of all mangrove areas have been lost in the last 60 years. For further details please check here:
http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3762

Sabyasachi

Sharing a news item published in The Times of India.
Sabyasachi

Navi Mumbai airport will destroy mangroves: Ramesh
PTI, Jul 7, 2010, 07.20pm IST

MUMBAI: Union minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh said on Wednesday that the proposed airport at Navi Mumbai would destroy a large swathe of mangroves.

"There are talks about a new airport in Navi Mumbai. If that airport comes up in the proposed area, 400 acres of mangroves would be destroyed," Ramesh, who was here to inaugurate a heritage project at Dandi village, told reporters.

Ramesh said Maharashtra should use the expertise of Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC), a state government agency, for mangrove conservation.

"I have suggested the Maharashtra Chief Minister to learn from the experience of GEC and utilise its services for mangrove conservation," he said.

In New Delhi yesterday, Ramesh had said there are "serious" ecological issues that need to be addressed before clearance is given to the airport near Mumbai.

He had said the project would be taken up for discussion on July 21-22 by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) under his Ministry and then only its fate will be decided.

The link to the source article can be found here:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...ow/6139550.cms

Finally the decision is taken :(...

Finally, Navi Mumbai airport gets green signal
Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, November 22, 2010

Mumbai will finally get its second airport, some 35 km from the existing one, with the environment and forests ministry giving its nod Monday after all "green" concerns were amicably addressed. "Formally, the environmental clearance for this project (Navi Mumbai) has been accorded. The provisions of building the airport can start today," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told a press conference here, with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan by his side.

The green ministry and the aviation ministry had been at loggerheads over the alleged delay in environment clearance for the airport.

According to Ramesh, a major compromise has been reached between his ministry, the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) and the civil aviation ministry.

"In the last couple of months, there has been lot of discussion between the Maharashtra government, the ministry of civil aviation and the environment ministry. We have bargained, we have negotiated and we have compromised," Ramesh said.

"All of us have compromised as it has become inevitable. I am sure the result is an environmentally safe and ecologically sound, energy efficient international airport at Mumbai."

Thanking the environment ministry, Civil Aviation Minister Patel said: "It is a very important project not only for Mumbai but for the economy of Maharashtra, economy of the country and for the growth of civil aviation sector in the country."

The environment ministry has been of the view that the construction of an airport at the proposed site in Navi Mumbai, some 20 km from the main city, will lead to destruction of a mangrove forest, diversion of two rivers - Ulwe and Gadhi - and blasting of an 90-metre-high hill which falls in the path of the proposed runway.

"Today there is 161 hectares of mangroves in the airport project area. On the completion of the airport, 678 hectares of mangrove plantation would be there around the airport. It will be a fourfold increase in the area under mangrove in Navi Mumbai," he said.

As far as diversion of two rivers is concerned, Ramesh said Gadhi will not be diverted but the course of Ulwe has to be changed.

"Finally, the 90-metre-high hill has to be removed and on that we had to make a compromise. I don't mind admitting… otherwise the approach to the runway would not have been smooth. On this we have had to give in completely."

"I want to thank the Maharashtra chief minister and the civil aviation minister as we have imposed 32 conditions for environmental clearance and now the ministry is completely on board to expedite the construction of airport," he added.

Planned as a public-private partnership, the project is proposed with 74 percent equity with the private players and the remaining 26 percent divided equally between the state-run Airports Authority of India and the CIDCO.

The project, proposed at a distance of some 35 km from the existing Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, is expected to absorb the load due to future growth in population, business and commercial activity of the region.

Around 1,140 hectares of land has already been earmarked for it, officials said.

It is expected to handle 10 million passengers in its first operational year, doubling to 20 million in eight years. The aim is that the airport would have a handling capacity of 40 million passengers by 2030.

Article at - http://www.hindustantimes.com/Finall...e1-629551.aspx