The Telangana High Court on Thursday gave its green signal for the establishment of the Indian Navy’s very low frequency radar station project in the Damagundum reserve forest in Vikarabad district, while clarifying that the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was being kept pending for six months only to monitor the progress of compensatory afforestation being taken up.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G M Mohiuddin was hearing a PIL filed by Damagundum Forest Protection JAC-Save Damagundam in February 2020, challenging the allotment of 2,900 acres of reserve forest land in the Vikarabad district to the Indian Navy. “There is no restraint from carrying out the project by the Indian Navy,” the bench stated.
Last month, the court sought the status of afforestation and directed the court-appointed amicus curiae, Vivek Jain, to visit the site and submit a report, and also asked the state forest department to file a detailed affidavit on the matter.
Amicus curiae’s report
On Thursday, Jain submitted his report to the court regarding visits to two sites in Thippapur, Vikarabad district, and one site in Amangal, Rangareddy district, where afforestation activities are underway. The average survival rate of plants in these sites was 80 per cent, 70-75 per cent, and 80 per cent, respectively, and the average plant height was 1 to 1.5 metres, up to 3 metres at some places, according to the report.
The bench noted that the amicus curiae’s report indicated that afforestation works carried out were ‘satisfactory’.
The court also noted that the stage-1 approval for diversion of 1174 hectares or 2900 acres of forest land in the Damagundam forest was accorded on January 15, 2014, by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the stage-2 approval was accorded by it on December 19, 2017, with certain conditions. The court also noted that, as per the detailed project report, the compensatory afforestation area was about 1,079 hectares in Vikarabad district and 1,269 hectares in Rangareddy district.
Ch Ravi Kumar, the counsel for the Chief Conservator of Forests, Charminar Circle, in his additional counter-affidavit, also provided a detailed abstract of the compensatory afforestation works being undertaken in lieu of lands diverted for the setting up of a VLF radar station in Pudur village, 80 km from Hyderabad.
According to the affidavit, the overall survival rate of the plantation is 89.88 per cent, and 8,23,531 plants out of 9,16,196 plants planted during 2024-25 and 2025-26 have survived. As many as 92,665 plants identified as dead will be replanted through casualty replacement during the 2026-27 monsoon season, the affidavit informed the court, citing the DPR.
The affidavit also informed the court about further plans for a balanced plantation of 552 hectares during 2026-27 and 29.50 hectares during the 2027-28 planting season. The court noted that the affidavit referred to a process of assisted natural regeneration (ANR) to be undertaken in 1,778 hectares where the reserve forest areas have degraded.
The court also noted the “sincere afforestation efforts” in 688.5 hectares and recorded that a balance of 581.5 hectares remains to be afforested during the year 2026-27 and 2027-28 in these two districts. The court also noted that the maintenance period for these afforestation efforts was 10 years, and that 100 per cent survival will be ensured by the end of this period.
The counsel for the implead petitioner, meanwhile, informed the court that the forest department must achieve a target of 2,348 hectares of compensatory afforestation in terms of the stage-2 approval. The court then noted that the process of afforestation over such a large area is in progress.
Considering that afforestation will be undertaken between May and December, the court adjourned the matter for further hearing after six months.
The inquiry was necessitated by the structural collapse of a few pillars of the Medigadda barrage on October 21, 2023. (File Photo) 
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