Deshmukh was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of ceremony to sign memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Jain irrigation. The clearance was given by the ministry on Wednesday and ministry has asked for certain clarifications, which will be submitted very soon, Deshmukh told.
It may be recalled that, in March this year, environment ministry refused to give clearance to the site of Navi Mumbai airport which is located at Ulve near Panvel as around 115 hectare land (7.3 per cent) of the total land is covered by the mangroves and suggested the project should be shifted to alternative location.
However Maharashtra government's industrial and township development arm CIDCO which is a nodal agency for the project and civil aviation ministry had strongly objected to the environment ministry's suggestion to shift the project as CIDCO has nearly 78 per cent land out of 2053 hectare required for project in possession of the CIDCO.
Subsequently CIDCO also shown willingness to appoint the agencies like IIT Bombay and pune based Central Water Research Station to asses the damage which might be caused due to airport project to mangroves forest and mitigation measures which can be undertaken.
