People from different background protest against Indian Navy’s radar station at Damagundam

The participants expressed concern that construction of a radar station, township, schools, parks in the forests would cast an adverse impact on the local environment. They demanded the Central and State governments to hold public discussions on the issue.

Hyderabad: Cutting across different sections, people appealed to the government to save the Damagundam forests in Vikarabad district and demanded relocation of the Indian Navy’s radar station from the forest to another location.

Ramalingeswara Swamy temple head priest Satyananda Swamy, environmentalist D Satyanarayana, former MLC Prof Nageshwar, director and producer T Bharadwaj and others participated in a protest at Dharna Chowk here on Sunday.

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The participants expressed concern that construction of a radar station, township, schools, parks in the forests would cast an adverse impact on the local environment. They demanded the Central and State governments to hold public discussions on the issue.

If the ecological balance was not ensured, it would lead to natural calamities like what had happened in Wayanad and Uttarakhand. The State government should keep the environment impact assessment report of the radar station project in public domain, Prof Nageshwar demanded, adding that the radar station should be set up only after planting 12 lakh trees and they grow up into a forest.

The CPM State unit too wanted the State government to reconsider its decision on handing over the Damagundam forest lands for establishing naval radar station.

Setting up of radar station in the forest lands would affect the local biodiversity. It would also cast an impact on the water bodies and River Musi, which originates from Vikarabad, said CPM State Secretary T Veerabhadram.

Meanwhile, the forest department dismissed the allegations levelled by a few people and said there was no truth in the news that 12 lakh trees would be cut for setting up the Eastern Naval Radar Station in the Damagundam forests.

Of the entire forest land allocated, only 48 percent would be earmarked for the construction of the radar project. All measures would be taken to ensure there was no damage in the remaining 52 percent forest land, PCCF RM Dobriyal said in a statement issued here on Sunday.

“In the 48 percent of the forest land, only a few trees will be cleared to build the radar station. The news that 12 lakh trees will be removed for the construction of the station is completely untrue. The Forest Advisory Authority attached to the Ministry of Environment, has clarified that only 1,93,562 trees would be removed for the construction of the radar station,” he said.

The Forest department was drawing up plans to further reduce the number of trees to be removed after the construction of the radar station begins, he said, adding that the department would plant 17,55,070 trees spread over 2,348 hectares of forests in Ranga Reddy and Vikarabad districts.