Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has said that no new private helipads will be allowed in the country, pouring cold water on the ambitions of a number of business tycoons.
Mr. Ramesh said applications for new private helipads will not be cleared by his Ministry as they violate noise pollution norms. Existing helipads could also be in trouble, he added, speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a function here on Tuesday.
Last month, the Ministry opposed the Maharashtra government's plan to set up 12 new helipads in Mumbai, saying that they would worsen the already high ambient levels of noise in the city. Now, Mr. Ramesh has gone a step further to slap a ban on private helipads anywhere in the country. Instead, only government-owned helipads to be used for emergency health or security needs would be approved, he said.
‘Only for public use'
“I told the [Maharashtra] Chief Minister that as long as the government wants to use these helipads for medical emergencies or strategic needs, there is no problem,” Mr. Ramesh said. “But we will not allow any private helipad for private use, or for that matter even for public use. And I want to make it clear that public helipads can be used exclusively for public purposes, not to serve private interests.”
The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board's tests found that the sound of helicopters landing or taking off breached the 100-decibel barrier, often touching 120 decibels. According to the Noise Pollution Rules 2000, residential areas are allowed a noise level of 45 to 55 decibels, depending on the time of day. Even in industrial areas, the maximum noise level permitted is 75 decibels.
Proponents of the Maharashtra helipads have argued that the take-off and landing of helicopters would be individual “events,” and should not be considered a violation of the ambient noise level norms, but the Environment Ministry does not seem to be buying that argument.
While other major cities such as New York and London do have private helipads, they have been plagued with citizens' complaints about the noisy disturbance. However, both cities also have public helipads, which are used for general transport purposes by private citizens willing to pay a fee.
‘Makes no sense'
Mr. Ramesh also threw in the “equity” argument, saying: “The notion of having private helipads does not make any sense to me when we are talking about equity and equitable access to atmospheric space.”
What about existing helipads? “We will catch them out on noise pollution violations,” he said.
On the issue of the Navi Mumbai airport, Mr. Ramesh said its fate would be decided at a meeting of the Expert Appraisal Committee to be held on July 21 and 22. He expects the final Environment Impact Assessment report to be submitted by CIDCO by July 7 evening.
“Our environmental concerns remain,” Mr. Ramesh said, citing the 400 acres of mangroves that will be destroyed, the two rivers that will be diverted and the island that will be blasted by the airport project.
