JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROJECT IN FOREST AREA 132KV NIRJULI-GOHPUR TRANSMISSION LINE

Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt of has accorded approval for setting up a Domestic Greenfield Airport at Hollongi, , for “Public Use” category vide No. AV.204018/25/2015-AD Dated: 18-01-2019. Subsequently, Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Sh. Narendra Modi, has laid the foundation stone for the project on 09-Feb-2019. Government of Arunachal Pradesh has handed over 667 acres to Airport Authority of India through District Administration, Papum Pare, Arunachal Pradesh as a follow up action for initiating the works related to the project. The land handed over to AAI by District Administration of Papum Pare, Arunachal Pradesh has an 132KV inter-state transmission line, maintained by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. The said line is running through the allocated land of the airport, hence it needs to be shifted/diverted to facilitate the construction of Greenfield Airport. It is to mentioned that the 132KV inter-State transmission line is connected to 132/33KV Gohpur Sub-Station of AEGCL from POWERGRID Nirjuli Sub-Station and caters power requirement of the adjoining areas of Gohpur. The line corridor is interfering the Aircraft's approach & takeoff funnel as well as the boundary of the Hollongi Airport. Hence the shifting of the said high tension line is necessary to facilitate the landing approach of the aircraft and to facilitate the construction of the Greenfield airport at Hollongi. A pictorial view of the airstrip runway and the approach & takeoff funnel is shown in the attached map below for ready reference. Therefore, in order to facilitate the construction of the airport at Hollongi, the Govt of Arunachal Pradesh has asked POWERGRID to shift the said transmission line in a time bound period of 02 years in order to avoid time and cost overrun.

The boundary of airport is just along the boundary of & Arunachal Pradesh. Now, as shown in the picture above, the shifting of the line is to be routed through Assam only. The entire Assam side along the boundary of Arunachal Pradesh falls under Gohpur Reserved Forest. Hence, there is no other alternative route of the line other than passing through Gohpur Reserved Forest. The "hashed lines" in the picture above shows the Boundary of Gohpur Reserved Forest.