Karwar: The Uttara Kannada district administration has finally ordered to give land to the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) to park its hovercraft on the Rabindranath Tagore beach in the city. In its fresh order dated August 10, the administration had cancelled its earlier order to give 13.36 acres to the ICG, and later issued a new copy ordering to provide 3.20 acres in survey Nos. 294-A and 294-B behind Divakar College at Kodibag in the city.

S S Nakul, Deputy Commissioner of Uttara Kannada, told Express that national security is more important than anything. Hence, a decision was taken to grant land to the Coast Guard. “We have decided to give 3.20 acres to the ICG to park its hovercraft. It will not affect tourism or fishermen in Karwar. The local people can continue to use the beach for their regular walk,” he said. Earlier in 2009, local people opposed to the district administration’s decision to give 13.36 acres on Karwar beach to the ICG saying ‘if the administration provided this land to the ICG, there will be no beach left for the people there. It would also affect tourism’. Remaining of the beach has already taken up by the Defence Ministry for the Indian Naval Base. Keeping all these points in mind, the administration had cancelled allotment of 13.36 acres and noded to provide 3.20 acres for parking of hovercraft. According to the local people, if the land was given to the ICG, it would not allow them to walk on the beach because of security concerns. It would construct buildings and there would be no beach left. Meanwhile, ICG decided to shift the project from the city and started land acquisition at Amdalli near Karwar it office and residential purposes.

According to a senior officer of the ICG, to park the hovercraft, they did not find any suitable land in the entire costal stretch of the district. Bhatkal and other beaches are not suitable for it. So, we have requested the Uttara Kannda district administration to provide 3-4 acres on the Tagore beach.” Another officer of the ICG said: “It is a good move by the administration. We have not received any communication on giving land. Once we get communication, we will decide our further step.”

Know hovercraft

Hovercraft is an ‘amphibian’ craft that travels on water as well as on land. It is also called as air-cushion vehicle (ACV) and is capable of travelling on road, mud, ice and water. It is one of the essential crafts to save fishermen in case of boat tragedy. It can also be used for security purposes. Followed by 26/11 Mumbai attack, the Karnataka government requested the Union Government to set up an ICG centre in Karwar, which has sensitive projects like Nuclear Power Corporation Limited at Kaiga and Indian Naval Base INS Kadamba in the city. The then revenue secretary S M Jamadar had written a letter the Centre in this regard and the state government had agreed to provide land to the ICG for the purpose.

The land rift

When ICG authorities came to Karwar, the district administration agreed to provide 9.36 acres (survey Nos. 294-A, 294-B, 294-K1/ K2/K3) and it also had decided to give 4 acres (survey No.294-D) after taking it back from a private hotel group. In 1989, 4 acres (survey No.294- D) was given to a private hotel group. As it did not use the land for the given purpose, the administration cancelled the land allotment on January 31, 2009. Within next few days, the land had given to ICG. Challenging the district administration’s order of cancelling the land, the private hotel stepped into Karnataka High Court Dharwad bench in 2009. In its recent judgment on July 22, 2016, the high court uplifted the district administration’s decision of cancelling the given land to private hotel. And also it advised to give land to ICG for national security purpose.

Public opinion

V N Naik, a retired professor of Marine Biology, said: “The proposed plan of the ICG is unscientific. We have naval base to give security to NPCL, Kaiga, and to the city. ICG centers are there in Goa and Mangaluru. Karwar is not a center place to set up ICG. It should set up its office in Bhatkal or Honnavar, which are center and sensitive places.” To protect Karwar fishermen, there is a coastal police team. Moreover, the naval base has extended help to the fishermen many a time. Naval boats are faster than hovercraft.