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Navi Mumbai: Environmentalists Relieved As BNHS Study Shows Flamingos Fly Below Aircraft Altitude | Representational Image NAVI MUMBAI: Environmentalists in Navi Mumbai have heaved a sigh of

relief after a recent study by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) revealed that migratory birds such as flamingos fly between the Thane Creek bird sanctuary and Navi Mumbai wetlands

maintaining an altitude below the aircraft flight path. The Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd (NMIAL) had presented its concerns regarding some of the bird sites such as NRI colony,

Training Ship Chanakya and Delhi Public School (DPS)) being located close to the airport, and that they come within Inner Horizontal Surfaces (IHS) of the proposed Navi Mumbai International

Airport (NMIA). However, with the BNHS allaying these concerns, environmentalists heaved a sigh of relief that the Navi Mumbai wetlands will be saved. The BNHS report forms part of the

Half-Yearly Compliance Report of Environmental & CRZ Clearance for Ongoing Project for Establishment of Greenfield Airport Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA). The flight pattern of

birds in Thane Creek, potentially including their path intersecting with the approach path of NMIA runways 08L & 08R (for westerly take-offs/landings) has been subject to study by BNHS.

Based on preliminary data visualisation, the report said that aircraft taking off or landing on NMIA runways typically maintain an altitude above the observed flight elevation of birds in

Thane Creek. This is also the case for Runway 09-27 of existing Mumbai airport, as its eastern approach passes near Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary, it said. When contacted, a BNHS

spokesperson said this is a preliminary study. “We will have to study further at the actual take-off angle and height to compare the bird and aircraft flight paths,” he said. Environment

watchdog NatConnect Foundation, which along with fellow green activists, has been running a series of campaigns to save the wetlands, said with these findings the government must now take

urgent measures to save the wetlands. “The compliance report also committed that CIDCO/ NMIA shall implement the BNHS recommendations for conservation of the biodiversity around the airport

site,” NatConnect Director B N Kumar pointed out and added that the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has already asked CIDCO to handover the three wetlands to the civic body to be

maintained and conserved. But CIDCO is yet to respond, the latest information obtained by NatConnect under the RTI Act shows. BNHS pilot covered 11 sites based on their locations, habitat,

bird species diversity and abundance of which eight were wetlands – Training Ship Chanakya (TSC), NRI Complex, Delhi Public School (DPS), Kharghar Creek, Kalundre River, Sonari-Belpada,

Dastan Phata-Jasai, Uran and three were forest areas of Karnala Bird Sanctuary, Chinar, and Mosare. The study indicated that the local movement of birds is driven by tide height and water

depth in high-tide roosting sites (inland wetlands) which highlighted the importance of these wetlands in the conservation and management of the birds in these areas. “This was exactly why

we fought for restoring tidal water flow to DPS Flamingo Lake in particular where about 10 pink birds died after the waterbody was rendered dry,” activist Rekha Sankla said. CIDCO had

blocked the water flow while constructing the road to Neul jetty. BNHS report says it also conducted ringing studies around Mumbai for investigating the migratory ecology of shorebirds.

Mumbai has been identified as one of the important areas in the Central Asian Flyways, which plays a vital role in maintaining the fragile group of wader population wintering in India.