BHUBANESWAR: Hours after leaders of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) questioned the water aerodrome project at Chilika, the ruling party snubbed them stating that it would take a view on the issue after reviewing the details.The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Friday approved the water aerodrome projects at Chilika in the State and Sardar Sarovar Project in Gujarat in the first phase.On Monday, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Maheswar Mohanty and Brahmagiri MLA Sanjay Dasburma opposed the project. While Dasburma said the project would affect bio-diversity, Mohanty echoed similar sentiments stating that Chilika does not require sea aeroplanes.
Culture and Tourism Minister Ashok Panda was more guarded in his response to the issue and felt that such a project needs to be dealt with care since it concerns bio-diversity. “No one has sought my opinion on the project and I came to know about it from media reports,” he told mediapersons.
However, the BJD top brass did not take to these comments by the party leaders kindly. A senior leaders said, the comments by the leaders are personal while the party will comment on it only after going through the details of the project.
“Chilika is a Ramsar site and an ecological treasure trove of Asia. The lagoon is also an important landmark in international identity of Odisha. The BJD will comment on the issue after going through the details of the project, environmental impact and effect it may have on the livelihood of fishermen dependent on Chilika as well as local community sustainability,” a party spokesperson said.
The regional party maintained that it is for development of the State but at the same time projects have to be sustainable taking into the account the ecology of Chilka. “We will wait till we receive all details about this project and then place our formal view in this regard,” the spokesperson said.In June, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation had issued guidelines for prescribing licence for water aerodromes. Since no market research is available on demand for such facilities, the two projects will be taken up on a pilot basis, the Union Ministry said.