A lengthy meeting between Union Minister of Environment and Forests Jayanti Natarajan and Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan in Mumbai on Thursday resulted in the state government getting only one “inprinciple clearance” to build Chhatrapati Shivaji statue in the Arabian sea near Mumbai. Decisions on most of the other proposals were postponed. “We were trying to convince the MoEF to allow building as tall Chhatrapati Shivaji statue in the Arabian sea. The project comes under the Coastal Regulatory Zone 4. It was difficult, but as a special case, the MoEF has decided to give an in-principle permission. We have found a rock in the sea which is 16.9 hectares in size. This can be used for the project”, said chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. Chavan refused to disclose the cost of the project saying, “It is too early to talk of the cost or other aspects.” The three-hour meeting discussed clearances to many projects, but nothing was finalised. Earlier, the state government made several presentations to the MoEF on mega projects such as the coastal road to be built in Mumbai, new international airport in Navi Mumbai, expansion of the Mumbai-Goa highway, and permission to remove moratorium on mining in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts in Konkan region. On Thursday, most clearances were kept pending. The meeting between the two leaders was cancelled twice earlier. “The final environmental clearance for Navi Mumbai International Airport will be discussed in the Forest Advisory Committee meeting as a part of Karnala bird sanctuary overlaps with the proposed layout. We are hopeful that this clearance will happen soon. The issue of Mumbai-Goa highway expansion was also taken up. The highway passes through the same bird sanctuary, we expect the issue to be sorted out soon,” the chief minister said. “The road project is being discussed since a long time. The road will have to be built on reclaimed land and we need CRZ clearances. The environment and forests minister has assured that she will look into the proposal and will try her best to get the permissions. This proposal may be reviwed by the MoEF panel”, Chavan added. The state has also been requesting the Centre to lift moratorium imposed on mining in two districts in Konkan, but there was no progress. “The state has sent its response to Kasturirangan committee report. We are waiting for other states to send their responses so that we can decide on the issue ,” Natarajan said. Toxic: 40 Cargo Ships Stranded off Indian Coast Union Environment and Forests Minister Jayanti Natarajan said on Thursday that 40 large cargo ships, some with hazardous material on board, are either stranded or have been dumped along the Indian coast, exposing the fragile coastline to ecological dangers, reports Our Political Bureau from Mumbai. Natarajan had a meeting with top officials of the shipping ministry, Coast Guard, port authorities and oil companies in Mumbai to discuss ways to resolve the issue of ships getting dumped along the Indian coast, leading to oil spills and accidents at sea. The minister called in various maritime agencies, including Jawaharlal Port Trust and Mumbai Port Trust, to discuss the sea pollution issue and the consequent ecological damage. “We have taken two important decisions: first, to start the process of creating a corpus fund to tackle shipping disasters, oil spills and oil pipeline leaks, and the second, to have better forecast system to coordinate the movement of ships," Natrajan said..