BHUBANESWAR: The Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has rapped the Odisha government for constructing a boundary wall on forest land for the proposed international airport at Puri by violating the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act.
Deferring its decision on diversion of forest land for the airport, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Ministry has sought a detailed report with the names of the erring officials responsible for allowing or not stopping the unauthorised construction in the forest.
The state government had sought the approval of the FAC for diversion of 27.887 hectare of forest land in Sipasarubali and Sandhapur areas under Brahmagiri tehsil for construction of Shree Jagannath International Airport following the recommendation of the regional empowered committee in October last year.
After examination of the area proposed for diversion, the FAC, however, observed that the user agency has already started the construction of boundary wall on the forest as well as non-forest land which is a violation of the provisions of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980.
The expert committee has asked the state government to submit a detailed report indicating the date and time of the commencement of construction of boundary wall along with present status and efforts taken to stop the work.
The chief wildlife warden has been asked to submit comments on the likely impact on the breeding of Olive Ridley turtles.
“The government will also furnish details of the authority/agency issuing work order for construction of boundary wall and the entity bearing the expenditure incurred on the alleged construction along with the status of action taken against the erring officials,” read the minutes of the meeting accessed by The New Indian Express.
The regional office of the MoEF&CC has been asked to conduct a detailed inspection of the area and submit a report along with violations committed by the user agency and remedial action taken by the state authorities.
Of the 471 hectares of land required for the airport project, 27.887 hectares of forest land needs diversion apart from felling of 13,504 trees. Compensatory afforestation over 29.939 hectares of non-forest land in Anipatia and Banabarada village under Kakatpur tehasil of Puri (WL) division has been proposed in lieu of 27.887 hectares of forest land.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) had issued site clearance certificate for the project on September 22 last year. The Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) has invited a global bid for the phase-1 construction of the airport at a cost of Rs 2,203 crore in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.