Another 1,000 acre forest for defence

The Damagundam Navy Radar establishment has finally got all the clearances. The Telangana government has provided 2,900 acres of land to the central government in the Dammagudem reserve forest in Vikarabad district for the radar centre.

Local communities were unhappy that 2900 acres of forest land was being diverted for other purposes, but gave in recently in the hope that it would mean development in their villages.

The project, conceived in 2011, is estimated to cost `1,800 crore.

There were also problems with the Ramalingeshwara Temple located in the reserve forest area but that has been resolved with the temple being rebuilt on five acres in Puduru, close to Dammagundem. The temple authorities will also be compensated for the 32 acres they surrendered for the project.

Some 100 acres of the 2900 acres will be for the construction of residential quarters for Navy personnel. The state government has already allotted `130 crore to initiate the work.

A Very Low Frequency (VLF) communication station will be built on 1,090 acres. Some 1,500 acres will be preserved as a green belt.

Forest officials claim there will be no danger to forest and wildlife as they will protect the area. The proposal for the transfer was in principle agreed to by the Union Government.

Mr Sunil Sharma said that villagers living in the vicinity had no objections to the setup of the shooting range, and this had been conveyed to the Defence officials. Earlier, the State Government had allotted 100 acres of land near Vikarabad to the Police Department, for them to set up a shortrange rifle shooting range, but villagers who lived nearby had strongly opposed the government’s decision, and had taken up agitations.

The Principal Secretary said that once the State Government and the Defence Department reached an agreement, a detailed project report (DPR) would be prepared for the construction of the flyovers. The Central Government has to approve the allotment.