Puri’s Greenfield Airport Plans Hit Defence, Environmental Hurdles

New Delhi: More than a year after it granted “site clearance” for the proposed greenfield international airport in Puri, a temple-town in Odisha, the Central government has raised concerns over the project’s location vis-à-vis crucial defence establishments and ecologically fragile areas. These concerns have been raised by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (environment ministry) six months after the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) was ousted from power in Odisha by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In a meeting held on November 28, 2024, the Environment Ministry’s Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) deferred Odisha government’s application to divert 27.887 hectares of forest land for the airport, raising concerns over the site’s proximity to INS Chilka, a training base of the Indian Navy.

The FAC – a statutory body under the Environment Ministry, which studies potential impacts of mining, industrial and infrastructure projects upon forest land, has also raised questions over the necessity of building a greenfield airport in Puri when the Biju Patnaik International Airport in the state capital of Bhubaneswar is barely 52 km away.

Were these site-specific issues not taken into consideration when the clearance was granted to the Odisha government by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation (civil aviation ministry) on September 22, 2023?

“The BJD government zeroed in upon Puri not only because it is a pilgrimage site because of the Jagannath Temple but is also a popular tourist destination owing to its pristine sea beaches. Puri town has the unique potential of drawing in tourists and pilgrims alike. Further, the proposed site is close to the Sun Temple of Konark which has been declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The site is also close to Satapada, another tourist destination that is famous for the Irrawaddy Dolphins,” BJD Rajya Sabha member Subhasish Khuntia told this correspondent.

The airport is proposed over a total area of 471.401 hectares, including 27.887 hectares of forest land and private land measuring 89.632 hectares. The private land has already been acquired by the Odisha government, Khuntia said. “We have fenced the forest land too with a boundary wall so that no encroachment takes place before clearance,” he added.

An email has been sent to the Civil Aviation Ministry by this correspondent asking for the minutes of the meeting in which the proposed site was cleared. This article will be updated once the ministry responds.

On the other hand, the FAC has recommended that the Odisha government act against officials responsible for constructing the 1,400-meter boundary wall around the forest land before obtaining clearance from the Environment Ministry. It has been alleged that the state government has violated provisions of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification 2019 by constructing the boundary wall extremely close to the sea in a zone where no construction activities are permitted.

Besides, a host of other environmental concerns, which could potentially sound the death knell for the project, have been raised, including its potential adverse impacts on the mass nesting ground of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles. These concerns have been raised following a site inspection report prepared by the Environment Ministry’s regional office.

“The proposed project site is close to the nesting ground of Olive Ridley turtles, a Schedule I species. The sea which abounds this project area has been close and contiguous with the Dolphin habitat and hence further study, documentation and conservation of this area is mandated before taking any further decision regarding this mega development project,” state the minutes of the FAC meeting dated November 28 (seen by this correspondent).

The FAC has objected to the project owing to its proximity to the Central Asian Flyway, a route used by migratory birds to fly to the brackish water Chilika Lake from the harsh winters of their homelands. It has also flagged the issue of environmental degradation over the proposal to fell more than 13,000 trees as part of the forest clearance.

“The expansion of Biju Patnaik airport can be taken up in other locations, with better connectivity like Jagatsinghpur, Khurda or Berhampur and not at the cost of huge environmental loss and at the same time exposing the area to various vagaries like tidal influence, cyclones and which is being frequent in both number as well as severity by cutting down 13,000 trees which now act [as] bio-shield and coastal shelter belt,” state the minutes of the meeting.

Based on the site inspection report, the FAC has noted that the Odisha government should have also included details of an expressway proposed between Puri and Bhubaneswar in the proposal.

“Further, the RO [Regional Officer] in his SIR [site inspection report] has also reported that during site inspection, the user agency has informed that an express way is proposed along the coastline to cater to the traffic from Bhubaneswar airport to proposed Puri airport. Though this is an ancillary project of the airport, there is no mention of 6 lane the express way (road) along with the airport project. An integrated project proposal needs to have been submitted,” say the minutes.

Notably, environmental issues over the project had been raised by activists in Odisha when the proposal was at an initial stage of consideration. Nevertheless, the Odisha government went ahead with the proposal. In a public hearing on March 4, 2024, as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment to procure environmental clearance for the project, local communities of project-affected villages had also raised objections over the ecological impacts of the proposed airport.

The proceedings of the public hearing show that project-affected people had raised concerns over the impact of the airport on the nesting of Olive Ridley turtles, the habitat of wild animals in the forest, the protective role of forests during frequent cyclones, discharge of waste water into the sea and loss of livelihood following the takeover of farmlands and forests, along with various other issues.

Environmental activists say the project should not be undertaken at the cost of mangroves because Puri has in the past few decades witnessed large-scale sea ingression.

“The existing road between Bhubaneshwar and Puri is an excellent highway. If the government wants to further reduce distance between the two cities, it can consider a dedicated corridor like an expressway,” Professor Sundar Narayan Patro of the Bhubaneswar-headquartered NGO, Orissa Environmental Society, told this correspondent.

In August 2024, nevertheless, the new BJP state government headed by Chief Minister Mohan Majhi submitted a detailed project report (DPR) to the Civil Aviation Ministry for obtaining in-principle approval for the airport. The DPR contained a techno-economic feasibility assessment, coastal zone status report and environment and socio-impact assessment reports from the state government.

Significantly, the Majhi government submitted the DPR only after it was asked to do so by the Civil Aviation Ministry. As per the ministry’s reply dated July 22, 2024 to a starred question in the Rajya Sabha by BJD MP Sasmit Patra, it had raised the following concern about the status of the airport:

“State Government of Odisha is required to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) including details like development plan, project cost & funding, traffic projections, timelines for completion of the project etc. Thereafter, prior to commencement of construction works, State Government has to submit an application along with DPR to Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) for grant of ‘In Principle’ approval.”

The project seems to be moving toward a dead end in less than six months after the BJD government was convincingly ousted from power in Odisha in June 2024 following simultaneous general and Assembly elections in the state. The BJP was voted to power by winning 78 of the 147 seats in the Odisha Assembly. On the other hand, the BJD fell to 51 seats in 2024 from its tally of 117 in the previous Assembly elections of 2019.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Ministry also seems to have changed tack about the “site clearance” it had provided in September 2023. In response to a starred question in the Rajya Sabha on December 2, 2024, the ministry has stated that the airport project’s completion is subject to “many factors”.

“The timeline for completion of the airport projects depends upon many factors, such as land acquisition, availability of mandatory clearances, financial closure etc.,” states the ministry’s reply dated December 2, 2024.

Opposition political parties in Odisha allege that the airport proposal was a hand-in-glove effort by BJP and BJD to milk votes, in the simultaneous general and Assembly elections, by appealing to the religious fervour of the people of Odisha. The BJP won 20 out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha thereby paving the way for Narendra Modi to form a government at the Centre for the third time in a row.

“The airport proposal seems to have been a political advertisement only. Any development work proposed for Odisha is most welcome. Opposition political parties and the people in general will always co-operate in so far as developmental works are concerned. However, if development works are announced for electoral gains alone ahead of polls, voters will never forgive whosoever is in power,” Sarat Pattanayak, senior Congress leader from Odisha, told this correspondent.

The airport proposal was mooted by Patnaik ahead of the 2024 elections. In February 2023, the Patnaik government floated tenders to invite global bids for the project to be constructed on a public-private partnership (PPP) model at an estimated cost of Rs 2,203 crore. Reportedly, Adani Airports, Fairfax and GMR Group were among those who expressed interest in constructing the airport. The project was fast-tracked after Patnaik met Modi, apparently to discuss its importance, in May 2023. In September 2023, the Civil Aviation Ministry provided “site clearance” for the airport at a place around 29 km from Puri town. In November 2023, the Environment Ministry had provided the terms of reference to the Odisha government to carry out an EIA of the project.

The writer is an independent journalist.