Thodupuzha: The Kerala government has been unable to resolve the objections raised by its own Forest Department over the allocation of additional land for the NCC’s airstrip project at Sathram in Idukki district.

At a meeting held on August 14, the Chief Secretary stated that aircraft operations could not be permitted over the Periyar Tiger Reserve, which lies close to the proposed airstrip. He instead advised the NCC to seek Central Government approval to set up a drone station at the site. Opposition parties have alleged that this directive was issued under pressure from the Forest Department.

Despite the project being regarded as one of the state’s key initiatives, no official decision has yet been made to hand over the land to the NCC, and the concerns raised by the Forest Department remain unresolved.

The state government had sanctioned ₹9.95 crore for the Sathram airstrip on July 3, 2017. However, just two months later, on September 17, the Forest Department issued a draft notification designating the land required for the project as part of the Vallakkadavu Reserve Forest. According to Revenue Department officials, the issue arose because adjacent land that could have been used for expanding the airstrip was also included in the reserve area.

However, the opposition blames the government for being ignorant of the Forest Department’s decision to convert the land adjacent to the airstrip as forest. The MLA of the area had revealed that in 2017, when the land was allotted for the airstrip, it was revenue land. The Forest Department raised claims over the land when construction works of the airstrip were almost 90 per cent over, he said.

A meeting was held over the issue on October 8, 2024, also. At this meeting, chaired by the Minister for Higher Education and Social Justice, the Idukki Sub-Collector, as the settlement officer, said that the land sought by the NCC was notified as a reserve under Section 4 of the Kerala Forest Act, 1961. In the event of this forest land being taken over for the airstrip, afforestation has to be carried out on a similar extent of revenue land. However, suitable revenue land for the purpose was unavailable, the Sub-Collector said at the meeting.

As per Section 7(1) of the Kerala Forest Act, land in Vallakkadavu reserve notified under Section 4 could be allotted to NCC using the government’s discretionary powers. Incidentally, the Revenue Minister had said at various official meetings that the Settlement Officer was in favour of allotting the land to NCC. At the same time, the Forest Department continues to come up with objections every time follow-up measures are discussed.