By Darryl D’Monte
Blissfully ignorant of harsh lessons from other cities , the Maharashtra government is building the Navi Mumbai airport in the twin city across the harbour by razing hills to the ground and raising the height of the runways by 5.5 metres, since these are on floodplains. As Dutch experts whose advice has gone unheeded point out, it’s a no-brainer that water will inundate the neighbouring villages. Some, a mere 100 metres from the landfilling work, have been flooded for the very first time this June.
The earlier Congress state government should also explain its wisdom in proposing Mumbai’s Rs 15,000-crore coast road, not to mention the Shivaji statue in the sea off Marine Drive, both projects which the BJP coalition is pursuing enthusiastically. While torrential and prolonged downpours are the new normal, their impact will inevitably be accentuated by sea-level rise with climate change, swamping all such grandiose, hare-brained infrastructure schemes.