Subsequent to the receipt of the letter referred above from the office of the Chief Engineer, PWD, Mumbai, a team of executives of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation headed by Shri R.C. Sinha, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, MSRDC accompanied by Shri Parveen Pardesi, Commissioner, Pimpri Municipal Corporation, Pimpri, Pune; Shri Bharat Bhushan, Director, Centre of Environment and Development, Pune and Shri Nandargikar, Superintendent Engineer, Mumbai Road Development and Design Circle (PWD) visited, WII on 22nd July 1997 to discuss the scope of studies to be undertaken by WII, feasible time frame for undertaking studies and other modalities of the consultancy offer of MSRDC/ PWD.

The WII counterparts expressed difficulties in visualizing the scope of work without a first-hand experience of the project environment and in the absence of documented information pertaining to the details of project profile, alternative route options and the technological choices available for construction related activities. This was agreed as a serious limitation in detailing out the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the study and the need for undertaking a site visit was stressed to perceive the nature and magnitude of impacts on different biological parameters before outlining the scope of study for the biohabitat evaluation of the project. The project authorities also assured access to relevant documents that could be studied prior to field visit to gain better insight of the aspects to be dealt during the reconnaissance of the project area.

Subsequent to the meeting with MSRDC & PWD officials at WII, the decision of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to undertake the ecological assessment of the proposed Mumbai - Pune Expressway was communicated to MOE&F vide letter NO.EIA/INRA-WII(AR)97 dated 26th July 1997.