Fresh Social Impact Assessment for Sabarimala airport gets under way

This is the second time the SIA is being conducted as the previous notifications for SIA and land acquisition were revoked by govt. following court intervention

Resuming efforts to acquire land for the Sabarimala international airport, the authorities have launched a fresh round of Social Impact Assessment (SIA).

According to officials, a delegation from the School of Social Work at Bharata Mata College in Thrikkakara, Ernakulam, have arrived at Erumely to collect data. The team, led by assistant professor Arya Chandran, aims at analysing the potential effects of the airport project on the local communities in Erumely and Manimala villages. A 15-member team has begun collecting data from local residents.

This is the second time the SIA is being conducted for the project, as the previous notifications for the SIA and land acquisition were revoked by the government following a court intervention. The initial notifications were repealed after the Ayana Charitable Trust (formerly known as Gospel for Asia of K.P. Yohannan’s Believers’ Church) and some local residents, whose land would be acquired, challenged the SIA study conducted by the Centre for Management Development, which has close ties to the Industries department. According to the regulations, the agency conducting the SIA should not have any connections with the firm implementing the project.

New notification

Following this, the State government had issued a fresh notification for the SIA under sub-section 1 of section 4 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARRA) in the previous month.

The notification for land acquisition, in accordance with the provisions of the LARR Act, can only be issued after the completion of the SIA proceedings. Hence, a new notification will also be issued for the land acquisition after receiving the SIA report.

Published - October 10, 2024 08:03 pm IST