Nagpur: The Forest Advisory Committee attached to the union ministry of environment, forest and climate change, has deferred the Maharashtra Government’s proposal seeking approval for the diversion of 63.540 ha forest land for development of Greenfield Airport at village Vihirgaon and Murti in Rajura tehsil of Chandrapur district in the Vidarbha region. The FAC after its recent meeting said, ‘’After thorough deliberations and discussions, keeping in view the location of the proposed area within a Tiger Corridor, the recommendation of the Wildlife Institute of India and the non-site specific nature of the project, the FAC deferred the proposal.’’
The FAC has asked the state government to examine the financial viability of the project and submit a detailed analysis/report in this regard. ‘’The construction of a Greenfield airport is a non-site specific activity and the proposed site is surrounded by Non-forest land. The State Government shall therefore explore other options of using non-forest land instead of using Forest land for the project. The State shall also explore the possibility of expanding the already existing Chandrapur (Morwa) Airport. In this regard the state government shall provide a detailed presentation along with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Maharashtra Airport Development Company before the FAC,’’ it said.
‘’Keeping in view the ecological importance of the area, the Environment Ministry shall seek detailed comments from Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun and National Tiger Conservation Authority on the instant proposal for the construction of Greenfield airport,’’said FAC.
The state government initially applied for diversion of 75.24 ha of forest land. However, the State Government on October 18 had recommended only 63.540 ha of forest land for diversion. The area proposed for diversion is 63.540 ha out of which 25.27 ha is Protected Forest land and 38.27 ha is Reserved Forest land, and total number of trees to be marked for felling is 3,392. The proposed forest area is not part of any National park, Wildlife Sanctuary, biosphere reserve, tiger reserve, elephant corridor, etc. But the project area falls within grid No. 248 of (C.No 173,200 & 593) as per WII report on Tiger Corridors of Eastern Vidarbha Landscape.
The proposed airport site is at a distance of 8.35 km from the boundary of Kanhargaon wildlife Sanctuary and the proposal for final notification of Eco Sensitive Zone for Kanhargaon wildlife Sanctuary is in Draft stage.
‘’The construction of the Greenfield airport is not a site specific activity and moreover the construction of Airport will further lead to infrastructural development like roads, Hotels and other residential/commercial areas in and around the proposed site. This may have an adverse impact on Tiger movement in the project area which falls within the Tiger Corridors of Eastern Vidarbha Landscape,’’ said WWI in its report, which was discussed at the FAC meeting.
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