TIRUCHENDUR
Construction activity at the Indian Space Research Organisation’s proposed space port at Kulasekarapattinam will begin shortly after getting mandatory clearance from the Union government and security agencies, ISRO chairman S. Somanath has said.
During an informal chat with reporters at Kulasekarapattinam on Thursday after inspecting the proposed site acquired for the upcoming complex, he said he was satisfied with the site for which the entire land had been acquired.
“Since the residential colonies are 10 km away from the Sriharikota launch pad, we can launch heavier payloads (bigger satellites) there. However, the upcoming site has houses within 2 km so that this site will be suitable for launching smaller satellites into the orbit,” he said.
Since Kulasekarapattinam, a coastal hamlet near Tiruchendur, is located advantageously to set up the space port for launching smaller satellites into the designated orbit, 2,376 acres of land including 141 acres of government poramboke land in this area was marked for acquisition. The State government nominated 8 tahsildars to complete the land acquisition process which is being monitored by a Special District Revenue Officer.
As land acquisition has been completed, Mr. Somanath visited the proposed launch site at Koodal Nagar near Kulasekarapattinam along with senior officials of ISRO and Collector K. Senthil Raj on Thursday evening.
