Environmental concerns stall Puri Airport project as MoEFCC defers approval again
BHUBANESWAR: The proposed international airport at Puri has run into rough weather with the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) once again deferring its decision to grant environmental clearance.
Flagging serious environmental concerns, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the ministry has asked the state government for a detailed study on the habitat and migration route of olive ridley turtles as well as Irrawaddy dolphins besides obtaining the coastal regulation clearance.
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, to be built at a cost of Rs 5,631 crore, following recommendation of the regional empowered committee in October last year.
As the proposed site of the airport is close to Chilika lake where a naval base is located, the committee has recommended to seek the views of the Ministry of Defence and observe the presence and migration pathway of dolphins for their conservation and protection plan.
“Since the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) in Chilika lake appears to be close to the airspace, it needs further study and impact analysis. Coastal regulation zone clearance also needs to be obtained as the project area is 200 metre from the sea coast,” it said.
The FAC observed that the dolphin migrates from Satapada (Chilika) to Konark and Puri up to Astarang and the path is critical to dolphin conservation. More roads, more buildings, ancillary construction, more light, sound and noise pollution, will be highly detrimental to the fragile dolphin and olive ridley turtle habitat causing great environmental loss to the coastal ecology, the committee contended.
The expert committee was also of the view that the travel time is around 60 minutes to reach Puri town from Bhubaneswar airport like most airports in cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Kochi, which are located at a distance of one hour drive from the city.
“The airport at Puri should not be at the cost of huge environmental loss by exposing the area to various vagaries like tidal influence and cyclones and cutting down 13,504 trees which now act bio-shield and coastal shelter belt,” it observed and recommended that the expansion of Biju Patnaik airport can be taken up in other locations.
Underlining that the proposed six-lane express highway and airport have not been presented in an integrated way in a bid to obtain easy clearance, the FAC has asked the state government to submit a report on action against erring officials for gross violation of the Forest Conservation Act by constructing boundary wall before obtaining the clearance. In July, the panel had deferred decision on clearance besides directing action against the erring officials.