Environmentalists oppose shifting of PAC battalion to Keetham

Environmentalists in the Taj city have opposed the district administration's move to shift the PAC battalion from the Taj Ganj area to the Keetham protected forest area on the Delhi-Agra national highway.
Scores of activists staged a dharna at the "Shahid Smarak" in the Sanjay Place commercial area today to protest the move.
Divisional Commissioner Ram Rao had, after a meeting of the district officials last week, indicated that the PAC would be shifted to the Keetham forest area to make way for the Metro Rail yard.
The announcement had invited the ire of the local green activists, who have now launched a campaign called "Say No to PAC shifting".

Shravan Kumar Singh, the vice-president of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society, told PTI, "The Keetham reserve forest area is a sensitive eco zone, which has a bird sanctuary, a bear rescue centre and an elephant rescue centre, apart from the Soor Smarak, a memorial of the blind bard of Braj Bhasha.
"The Keetham lake has a python point where a large number of reptiles can be seen. No effort should be made to disturb the fragile ecology of the area."

Devashish Bhattacharya of the River Connect Campaign said, "The PAC battalion can be shifted anywhere, why this particular forest area, which is a critical green buffer between the Mathura Oil Refinery and the Taj Mahal?

"Earlier, the administration had identified a site for a leather shoe cluster and announced a plan for a northern bypass. Luckily, the environmentalists were able to stall those projects. The area where the PAC is proposed to be shifted belongs to the Uttar Pradesh Horticulture department."
The Metro rail project for Agra has been cleared by the Yogi Adityanath government and the work is likely to begin soon.