Nagayalanka missile project gets nod from Law Ministry

New Delhi/ Vijayawada: The Law Ministry has given clearance to the missile project in Nagayalanka on Thursday setting in motion the process of establishing the prestigious project in Andhra Pradesh. This will be the second missile project in the country. This was necessary as per the conditions of the Supreme Court's Green Bench.

The Rs 1,600-crore project has already been given Forests clearance and the remaining Environmental clearance will be issued in a couple of days, according to Arja Srikanth, Additional Resident Commissioner, AP Bhavan.

Arja Srikanth, who pursued the project relentlessly, said the project work might start in three months or so and it was expected to be completed in four years. The Centre had earlier released Rs 35 crore for land acquisition and Rs 81 crore for afforestation programme.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) proposed a missile test centre at Gollamoda in Nagayalanka mandal which is part of Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary in 2012.

Then the project got entangled in court cases and though it could finally wriggle out of them about three years ago, it remained a non-starter with the clearance pending with the Law Ministry.