BHUBANESWAR: The Ministry of Defence on Tuesday granted working permission to the state government for development of the airstrip at Rasgovindpur near Amarda Road in Mayurbhanj district. The ministry has conveyed the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Director General Defence Estates for allowing the state government to develop defence land measuring 160.35 acre at Amarda Road on the basis of cash compensation of `26.03 crore.
Setting the terms and conditions for grant of permission, the ministry said a separate board of officers (BOO) will be convened to ascertain exact location, demarcation of land, its cost and modalities of transfer, and security and safety measures, government and private assets and cost of their demolition, relocation or reconstruction before handing over the land to the state government.
The BOO will also demarcate the quantum of land to be mutually used by the state government and DRDO. It will complete the proceeding within four weeks from issue of the working permission. ln case there is variation in area, revised sanction of MoD will be required to be obtained, the letter said.
The mutually used land, if any, will be regulated on lease of Rs 1 per sqm per annum and the amount so incurred will be adjusted from cash compensation. The cost overrun due to delay in execution of work for creating the approved infrastructure will be borne by the indenting agency.
The amount of cash compensation will be deposited by the indenting agency (Odisha government) in Consolidated Fund of India before execution of working permission. The handing/taking over of land would be done through a board of officers with members of the state government, DRDO and DEO, Bhubaneswar circle.
The state government will implement suitable traffic control measures in the vicinity of military pockets during and after the development of airstrip to the satisfaction of DRDO. Earlier, the state government had urged the Defence Ministry to instruct DRDO to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) to operationalise the Amarda Road airstrip UDAN scheme.
In June this year, the Civil Aviation Ministry put the airstrip under UDAN bidding. However, no operator has come forward in several rounds of bids to operate flights from the airstrip under the regional connectivity scheme.