Bhubaneswar, Aug. 19: Flights landing in and taking off from the airport will have to worry less about bird hits with the government deciding to shift the farm of the Orissa University of Agriculture Technology (OUAT) to Deras.

The decision was taken in view of the airport expansion plan and to reduce bird hit incidents.

The coconut research unit inside the OUAT farm will also be shifted to the State Coconut Research Centre near Sakhigopal along the Bhubaneswar-Puri national highway.

The state government gave the assurance when Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials observed at today's meeting of the Airport Environment Management Committee that the OUAT farm near the runway of the Biju Patnaik International Airport was attracting birds.

The committee, led by the chief secretary, reviews the action plan to ensure airport safety twice a year.

The decision, however, has upset university officials.

"We have 51 different all India coordinated research projects under the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) running at our farm. Already many ventures are suffering as we lost land for airport expansion work. The original 200-acre farm has been reduced to nearly 100 acre. Now, the bird menace will bring more trouble to the students," said varsity vice-chancellor Manoranjan Kar.

"The agriculture engineering students working on different farm implements will also be affected by the shifting. Development of new crop varieties will definitely suffer if the farm shifts its base to Deras," Kar said.

In the early nineties, the agriculture university lost 30 acres to runaway expansion. In 2012, it lost 16 acres. In the same year, the airport also received land from the state government in two patches of 15.8 acres and 5.9 acres on the Gandamunda end.

A senior varsity official said that the airport authority is planning to acquire another 60 acres from the remaining 100 acres under the university.

"We have urged the state government to ensure that at least the land near Derasis available. We hope things will be complete by December," said the vice-chancellor.

The state government is likely to provide nearly 200 acres near Deras to OUAT for its research projects.

"Instead of addressing issues such as shifting of slums, meat and fish vendors, low-lying laterite quarries near Kargil slum that turn into ponds every rainy season, the government is only interested in shifting the varsity farm. This is surprising," said Janakish Badapanda, a banker and a former student of the varsity.

"A section in the bureaucracy is against an agriculture university having such a valuable farmland in the heart of the city. The AAI is taking advantage of this and expanding its base. Even after taking nearly 100 acres where is a direct international flight?" he asked.

Airport director Sharad Kumar told today's meeting that the presence of slums, butchery shops, OUAT farm, ponds around the airport attract birds near the flight path of the approaching aircraft over the runway. He suggested their removal and relocation of the varsity farm to some other place.