Hyderabad: The state government's decision to hand over 2,900 acres of forest land in Damagundam to the Central government for naval authorities to establish a VLF (very low frequency) radar centre, has prompted a city- based welfare society to launch an online petition addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for the radar construction to be stopped.
“This project is a great threat not just to the lush green forest reserve but also to fauna that exists there. The facility sought to be built in the Damag-undam Reserve Forest is an Extremely Low Frequency (3 to 30 hertz) base station which will be used as a communication hub for submar-ines,” Ram K. Challa, of B the Change Welfare Society told Deccan Chronicle.
He said some 1,000 acres of forest will have to be cleared to create the base and this is deadly for both flora and fauna.
“There is a wide variety of fauna in the forest. It is home to deer species such as sambar, blackbuck, cheetal (spotted deer) chowsingha (four-horned antelope), chin-kara (Indian gazelle), mouse deer, as well as junglee bakri (wild goat), rabbit, hare, wild boar, bush pig, porcupines, python, monitor lizards and many more creatures. They will no longer have a habitat and they could encroach into cities or become endangered,” he added.
When contacted for a comment, defence personnel in the city said that they are not at liberty to share any details on the radar or its purpose.
“Recently, there was a site inspection of the works,” was all that a defence official could say.
