HYDERABAD: The state government alienated 1,174 hectares of forest land in Dummugudem village of Vikarabad district to the Navy to set up a very low frequency (VLF) radar station in Pudur mandal, on Wednesday.
The Navy had been seeking the land from the state government for the last 15 years. With the alienation of land, the Navy is expected to start the works on radar stations from February. This would be the second radar station being set up by the Navy in the country after Vijayanarayanam in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. The radar station is intended to communicate with ships and submarines using low frequency radio waves.
Though the Navy got the environment and other clearances for the radar station, the previous state governments did not allot the land.
Navy officials including Commodore Karthik Shankar, Circle Defence Estates Officer Rohith Bhupathi and Captain Sandeep Das called on Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday. Vikarabad forest officials and Naval officials signed the papers relating to the alienation of the forest land.
Back in 2014, the Ministry of Environment and Forests had approved the proposal of the Navy to set up the radar station. The Navy already had paid Rs 133.54 crore funds under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) and another Rs 18.56 crore towards soil protection measures. However, the Dummugudem Forest Protection Committee filed a case in the high court seeking a directive to cancel the plan of building the radar station.
The high court, however, directed the Navy to follow all the conditions laid down by the state government. While following the court’s directive, the Navy also assured protection to the 400-year-old Sri Ramalingeswara Swamy temple in Dummugudem and also agreed to allow the devotees to the temple.
Township
Once the Navy establishes the radar station, schools, hospitals, banks and markets too would come up in the village as part of a township. Around 3,000 people including 600 Navy employees would live in the township. A 27-km length road will be constructed around reserve forest. The radar station is expected to be completed by 2027.