Aranmula Airport Not Yet Got Clearance Say’s Sonia Gandhi

29 August 2013
Pathanamthitta

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has written to poet Sugathakumari that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has not yet cleared the proposed airport project at Aranmula. The project has been put on hold by the Minister due to several representations received from NGO activists and eminent citizens, the letter said.

In a telephonic conversation with The Hindu, Ms. Sugathakumari said she had received a letter in this regard from Dhiraj Srivastava, private secretary to Ms. Gandhi, on Tuesday. KGS Group, promoters of the private airport project, had earlier claimed to have procured all requisite clearances.

The letter, dated August 21, says that “the project has been strongly recommended by the Government of Kerala, and the establishment of the greenfield airport at Aranmula was also mentioned in the President’s address to both Houses of Parliament in the beginning of the year.” The Minister had assured the detractors that no action would be taken till all facts were verified, it said. “The MoEF has sought clarifications from the State government vide letter No. 10-51/2010-IA-III, dated July 17 and 18, 2013.”

Welcoming the Congress president’s prompt response to the memorandum filed by the Joint Action Council (JAC), Ms. Sugathakumari called for the former’s immediate intervention to save the remaining paddy land and wetland in Kerala so as to maintain the country’s food security.

Source– http://www.thehindu.com

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