Encroachment tolerated in forest areas to be protected near Damagundam VLF station

Local residents marked the interventions in the area marked green.

A patch of forest land left after the diversion for the VLF Naval Station in the Damagundam Reserve Forest may soon be cleared due to encroachments that the authorities have failed to resolve. This may jeopardize the entire project, as the protection of 360 acres of forest land was a prerequisite for clearing the forest.

A total of 1,174 hectares or over 2,900 acres of the Damagundam reserve forest in Vikarabad district has been allotted for a naval station set up by the Eastern Naval Command. As the second such facility in the country, which could improve the Indian Navy’s communications with ships and submarines, the station is slated to be operational by 2027.

Several activists and environmentalists opposed the diversion of such a vast extent of forest land. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the project is still pending in the Supreme Court. On April 2, it was announced that the project has received a green signal from the HC, but the PIL is being kept alive to ensure the progress of compensatory afforestation.

There have been fresh allegations that there has been a violation of rules which may have been deliberately hidden even from the HC appointed Amicus Curiae who came for review. Sources say that by not acting on the encroachments, the forest department officials have washed their hands of the balance area and left it open for further encroachments.

The Ministry of the Environment, Forests and Climate Change issued the II. stage of clearing the forest based on four assumptions, one of which is to maintain the balance as a forest block on one side and protect it with fencing.

“The state government shall ensure that the user agency keeps the remaining 145.76 ha of reserve forest area as a block on one side and fences it at its cost,” the order said.

Local people say that about 10 acres of the 361-acre block has already been encroached on two separate occasions over the years. There is a lawsuit in the High Court in the matter of “interference” on the part of a well-known department, on which a suspension has been enforced for several years. Another intervention was from a farmer who started with two acres and expanded it to almost eight acres.

While the user agency, Eastern Naval Command, places the onus of clearing the encroachments on the forest department before the fencing begins, the latter has reportedly turned a blind eye.

“In the few cases where fencing was attempted, (the attackers) instigated a few workers who caused a ruckus and stopped the machinery. The police are refusing to provide protection in view of the lack of personnel and the forest department is trying to present a picture that everything is ugly,” said a local person who did not want to be quoted.

District Forest Officer, Vikarabad, G. Gyaneshwar, when asked, said the work was going on and the old encroachment of four to five acres would be removed.

“The non-contentious areas are generally fenced off first. Once they get to that encroached area, they approach us to clear the area (sic). I think the work hasn’t reached that area,” he said.

Published – 28 May 2026 20:48 IST