THIRUVANANTHPAURAM: The state government has informed the Centre that permission should be granted to the Aranmula International Airport project.
The state’s support for the controversial project was conveyed in a letter written to the Centre on April 22 this year.
This was revealed by fisheries and ports minister K Babu in the Assembly on Monday. However, the minister said that the state had not received any information about the permission granted to the KGS Group to conduct a second environment impact assessment.
Truth is, on April 24, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had granted permission to the KGS Group, the promoters of the project, to conduct a fresh environment impact assessment study.
The minister, however, said that the government had received information only that the new application of KGS Group came up for consideration during the 143rd meeting of MoEF’s expert appraisal committee.
Mr Babu said that the state had conveyed to the Centre that it was for the project if the KGS Group complied with the all the guidelines laid down by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and other legal agencies.
The earlier EIA, which had declared that Aranmula did not have wetlands, was rejected by the National Green Tribunal on May 18, 2014. The NGT found that the consultant, Enviro Care, was not accredited with the MoEF. It was also found that the public hearing as part of the EIA was conducted in violation of rules.
Mr Babu said that though the state government had decided to accept 10 percent equity in the project, neither the company had provided nor the government accepted the shares.
