Cuttack, July 8: The top-secret aviation facility run by India’s external intelligence agency in Odisha is apparently under threat because of unchecked quarrying of stones and morrum close to its boundary.

A public interest litigation (PIL) filed in Orissa High Court has alleged that illegal quarrying of stones and morrum is under way by clearing hundreds of acres of reserve forest land near the Research Analysis Wing (RAW)’s Aviation Research Centre (ARC) at Charbatia.

The PIL has sought judicial intervention for protection of the ARC, particularly the underground Arms and Ammunition Centre (Magazine Centre) at Mangarajpur by way of putting a stop to the illegal excavation in its periphery. Digging had been carried out to a depth of 40 to 50 feet.

The Charbatia base sprawling over 1,440 acres is located at a secluded place, 15kms from Cuttack. Basanta Kumar Paikaray, 53, and six others of nearby Badasamantarapur, Sankarpur, Mangarajpur and Badapadagaon villages filed the PIL.

The high court has issued notices to the secretary defence, secretary union forest and environment, revenue divisional commissioner (Central Division), Odisha, collector-cum-district magistrate (Cuttack) and tehsildar (Tangi-Choudwar).

“Having regard to the nature of allegation which in relation to the extraction of natural resources, as an interim measure the collector-cum-district magistrate (Cuttack) and tehsildar (Tangi-Choudwar) are directed to see that the minerals in the area in question are not extracted unauthorisedly during the pendency of the writ petition,” the court ordered.

While issuing the interim order after a preliminary hearing on July 3, the two-judge bench of Chief Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice S.K. Mishra directed for listing the matter “after two weeks”.

“Due to the illegal quarry operation there is every possibility of accident of defence flights at the time of their landing and in the way to the entrance to the underground facility as all the illegal stone and morrum quarries are very much adjacent to the air runway,” the PIL contends.

“The illegal operation in the prohibited area further creates problems for the air parachutes at the time of their landing and practice,” the petition stated.

The Centre at Charbatia is one of RAW’s four aviation bases. The others are located at Chakrata on the Uttar Pradesh border, Dum Duma near Tinsukia in Assam, and the Palam airport in New Delhi.

The petition expressed apprehension that future expansion plans would be in jeopardy if the illegal quarrying on the outside edge of the ARC at Charbatia remained unchecked. The Centre is planning the extension of the ARC at Charbatia. The area is an important training centre for defence pilots, storage of arms and ammunitions and operation of radar system. It is guarded by the Indo-Tibetan Border Security Force.