Assam: TMC leader Sushmita Dev accuses former chief secretary over failure to provide document related to Dolu airport project

TMC leader Sushmita Dev has accused the former Chief Secretary of Assam of failing to provide documents relating to the acquisition of land for a Greenfield Airport project in Dolu TE, Cachar district, Assam. 

Dev claimed she had written to the former Chief Secretary, Jishnu Baruah, on 10th June 2022, and again on 18th August 2022, requesting the documents. 

However, despite assurances that they would be provided once the flood situation in the Cachar district improved, Dev alleges the documents have not been supplied. 

She has now sent a list of the requested documents to the new Chief Secretary, Ravi Kota, requesting their provision in her capacity as a Member of Parliament and a citizen of India.

Also Read: Assam: Supreme Court orders status quo on proposed airport construction at Doloo tea estate

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court directed the Assam government to maintain the status quo at the Dolu tea estate in the Cachar district of Assam, where Greenfield Airport is proposed to be constructed.

A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra questioned the state government for clearing the shrubs in the tea garden without an environmental impact assessment report.

The top court also issued notices to the Centre, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Assam government and others on a plea filed by Tapas Guha and others.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that the NGT erred in its decision and even for the grant of site clearance and in-principle approvals, environmental clearance is necessary.

The NGT on January 25 had dismissed the plea by Guha and others on the ground that environmental impact assessment report is awaited and the environmental clearance for the airport in question has not been granted.