Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

ISRO should not insist on getting estate land: Minister

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Forests Minister Benoy Viswom said here on Sunday that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) should not insist on land at Merchiston Estate, Ponmudi, for establishing the campus of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology.

“The Government had offered land free of charge for the institute (elsewhere). ISRO should not be insisting that it would build the institute campus only on the land purchased from Xavi Mano Mathew (of Southern Field Ventures). This would cast doubts on the intentions of ISRO and affect the image of the institution.”

Mr. Viswom reiterated that the 707 acres of Merchiston Estate, near Ponmudi, including the area sold to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), belonged to the Forest Department (as vested land).

If the State Law Department had a different view, that would be examined jointly.

The Minister said these in the context of ISRO’s claim that its purchase deal was legal and the remarks of Law Minister M. Vijayakumar on the subject.

The Forest Department had issued notice to ISRO stating that the deal was illegal.

However, the Law Secretary had differed with the Forest Department on the status of the estate as an ecologically fragile land (EFL) notified by the Government.

In its reply to the notice, the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre of ISRO contented that the land it purchased did not fall under the EFL area, and that it had the right to develop the campus there.

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