When Climate Change Looms, 5,733 Acres Of Tea Plantation Be Razed For An Airport Is Not Condolable
By D N Singh
It sounds a bit strange that, at a time when the world is worried over the climate change, the proposed ‘imaginary greenfield’ airport in Assam by acquiring 5,733 acres of land which mainly comprised of tea gardens.
According to news reports, the government there has already cleared large tracts of tea plantation to facilitate the construction of the air port in Cachar.
Taking it with a serious concern the Rajya Sabha MP, Suashmita Dev has shot a letter to the Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. Although the ministry had stated that, it has not received any such proposal for an international air port at Cachar, in Southern Assam.
On May 12, Cachar district authorities had started the process to acquire over 5,733 acres of land for the construction of the airport.
“Imagine ripping through the tea plantation and evicting those helpless workers in Dolu with 200 excavators,” Dev twitted. On May 24, Dev, Rajya Sabha MP of Trinamool Congress, wrote to Scindia asking whether the CAM has sanctioned any proposal for the ‘imaginary greenfield’ airport at the cost of such huge tracts of tea plantations.
In fact, the local RTI activist Rahul Roy had filed an application once the Cachar district authorities had started the process, on May 12, of acquiring the 5000 acres plus area for the proposed airport.
Which would adversely impact the livelihood of about thousands of workers.
A local media report said that about 30 lakh tea bushes have been razed already for the purpose. Over 200 excavators have been used for the clearing, said the media report.
To protest against the action of the authorities, the Doloo Tea Estate Save Coordination Committee called for a protest on June 15.
It is not about the State of Assam or any other, “but the very concept of razing such humongous patches of tea plantation for an imaginary greenfield air port sounds extremely dangerous for the environment itself” said Manjar Alam, senior journalist in Guwahati.
“Why ripping through such a vast green expanse instead of looking for any alternative location” added Alam
When everywhere the talk of climate impact has become the buzz, how can such an outlandish proposal goes through is worrisome.
