Bhadrak: Both the Central and the state governments have been laying stress on the Dhamra port area in Bhadrak. The state government has given go ahead to an airstrip at Balimunda while the district administration of Bhadrak has initiated process to demarcate the land proposed for the project.
An official of the Dhamra port said that in a month or two, the work on the port will be started. A patch of land measuring 229.67 acres in three villages under Basudevpur tehsil has been earmarked. The state government had earlier stated that the work for the airstrip project will be undertaken after the acquisition of the government and private lands in the area.
The airstrip has a lot to do with the increasing importance of the Dhamra port in the region. There was a plan for expansion of the port by end of 2020. Land has been identified and its schedule was handed over to the Commerce and Transport department in July, 2020.
Meanwhile, a patch of 9 acre and 55 decimal of land required for the office of the proposed airstrip has been identified.
“It was finally decided that the airstrip will be set up at Balimunda, 1 km from the main bazaar. The project will sprawl over three mouzas namely Balimunda, Badahabelisahi and Nandapatana,” Basudevpur tehsildar Soumyashri Panigrahy said.
Notably, keeping in view increasing commercial activities in Dharma port, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry in 2019 proposed the state government to earmark land near Dhamra to set up an airstrip near the port area.
Meanwhile, the district administration has assessed that 43 families will be displaced by the airstrip. Each displaced families will be provided dwelling and other rehabilitation facilities as per the existing R&R policy of the government, it was learnt.
An official of the Dhamra port hinted that the work on the port will be undertaken in a month or two. However, he added that owing to Covid situation, the land demarcation process got delayed. The Chief Secretary had held a meeting in Bhubaneswar June 29, 2019 about the execution of the project.
The airstrip is expected to bolster faster communication for the port and help in increasing it business and commerce.
PNN