NDA slams Govt for move to make surrounding area residential

PUNE, APRIL 1: The National Defence Academy (NDA), country's premier training institution of defence forces, on Friday trained its guns on...

PUNE, APRIL 1: The National Defence Academy (NDA), country’s premier training institution of defence forces, on Friday trained its guns on the Maharashtra Government, aimed at shooting down its latest move to convert large area of hills near the academy at Khadakwasla from no-development zone to fully developable residential zone.

Colonel (Administration) R Ray of the academy appeared in uniform before the State deputy director of town planing Y S Kulkarni at Central Building housing several directorates of the State Government. He lodged a strong protest against the dezoning move and telling him in unambiguous terms that throwing the hills open for wanton residential development would threaten the security of this defence institution that the entire country is proud of.

Col Ray cited three main reasons for the objections, security being the prime most. As a military installation, the academy had a porous boundary. With no boundary wall, the NDA’s security could come under serious threat if residential structures were to come up in the area.

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Anti-social elements, NDA authorities felt, could stay in the area and target “soft military installations’ like the NDA. Also the cadets who joined the academy at an impressionable age could be targeted by these elements which would sabotage the system.

The NDA has also raised objection to the proposal on environmental grounds stating that the NDA was home to more than 600 species of flora and fauna. If the hill slopes were to be dezoned then the resultant pollution would also be affected. The academy also served as a sanctuary for several migratory birds and their presence would be severely threatened, NDA authorities felt.

The NDA, which trains cadets from all three wings of the armed forces, plans to introduce motorised gliding for its trainees later this year. With dezoning and the resultant population growth, NDA authorities felt that bird menace would go up significantly. With the gliders capable of flying only at low altitudes they would be under a major threat from the birds.

Also, the fact that road to the academy from what is popularly known as Chandni Chowk was the sole approach to the academy from this side, this would mean that the town would virtually merge with the NDA’s environs.

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The academy has also appealed to the civilian authorities not to take away its power to issue no-objection certificates (NOC) to any building activity on the road from Chandni Chowk to the academy’s main gate. According to NDA authorities, Army commander had passed on their objections to the Chief Secretary at the civilian-military liaison conference held in Mumbai on February 15.