Int'l Bird Centre near Marakkanam to wait; no Forest clearance for now

CHENNAI: In a setback to the State government's plan to construct an International Bird Centre and birdwatching point near Marakkanam, the project screening committee for forest clearances has rejected the proposal for diverting forest land citing shortcomings in the applications.

The screening committee pointed out that in the case of the bird-watching point at Kazhuveli Bird Sanctuary, component-wise break-up details of the works in forest areas are not reported and the name of the forest block is not reported in the proposal.

The location of the forest area boundary marked in the Survey of India topo sheet is not furnished. Non-availability of alternate non-forest land available for the project issued by the district collector, and completion of the process for settlement of rights under the Forest Rights Act 2006 have not been furnished, it observed. Making similar observations, the committee rejected the proposal for the international bird centre too.

However, the committee directed the forest department to furnish fresh proposals with complete details along with the justification of how the proposals are termed as non-forest activities. A forest official said fresh applications will be submitted, answering all the queries.

According to the proposals, 8.4 hectares of Kazhuveli Bird Sanctuary will be diverted to construct a bird-watching point. Similarly, the department proposed to divert 7.73 hectares of forest land in Agaram reserved forest for the International Bird Centre. The project will be implemented at Rs 25 crore.