DAMAGUNDAM: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh laid the foundation stone for the Indian Navy’s very low-frequency (VLF) radar station at the Damagundam Reserve Forest site in Telangana’s Vikarabad district on Tuesday.Located around 90 km from Hyderabad, it will be built at a cost of Rs 3,200 crore and help in communication with submarines. Officer-in-charge of project implementation and execution at the radar station Captain GM Rao told TNIE that while three locations were identified initially, the Damagundam site was by far the most suitable location for the project.The site was selected as it is located at an altitude of 250 feet and in the absence of mountains nearby, would allow nearly 300 km of unobstructed signal transmission. This would help the radar facility communicate with deployed units in the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. The site also has to satisfy certain QRs (qualitative requirements) including soil conductivity tests and the absence of high-tension wires nearby up to a certain radius, Navy officials told this newspaper.Telangana hosts a number of defence facilities. Hyderabad is a strategic location and has ordnance and missile facilities, and also a nuclear fuel complex, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy pointed out on Tuesday. The Damagundam station, to be spread across 2,900 acres, is only the second such facility in the country. India’s first VLF radar station was commissioned in 1991 in Vijayanarayanam in Tamil Nadu. It was named as INS Kattabomman after the 18th century ruler of Panchalankurichi who fought the British.Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi noted that the Vikarabad facility would complement the TN station. 15-year-long wait ends2008: Navy officials meet YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the then CM of united Andhra, and submit proposal seeking forest land to set up a VLF radar station at DamagundamAugust 11, 2014: District forest officer, Vikarabad district, raises demand notice for payment by Navy towards afforestation February 25, 2017: District Forest Officer, Vikarabad revises demand notice in view of increase in wage rates & change of location for raising plantationMarch 2, 2017: Navy pays Rs 133.54 cr towards extraction charges of tree growth as per demand notice issuedMay 25, 2017: Compliance report on Stage-I submitted to state government by state Forest departmentNovember 14, 2017: Ministry of Environment and Forest accords Stage-II (Final) approval for diversion of 1,174 hectares of land in Damagundam reserve forestDecember 19, 2017: State government accords final approval but there is no progressJanuary 10, 2024: After Congress comes to power, Navy officials meet Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and push their proposal afresh. CM immediately gives his consentOctober 15, 2024: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh lays foundation stone for VLF radar station in Damagundam
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