Overview
- The Telangana High Court said the Navy can proceed with the very- and extremely-low-frequency (VLF/ELF) radar station at Damagundam and kept the PIL active for six months to monitor compensatory afforestation.
- A court-appointed amicus inspected plantation sites in Vikarabad and Rangareddy and reported 70% to 80% sapling survival, which the bench called satisfactory.
- The forest department reported 823,531 of 916,196 saplings have survived, or 89.88%, and it plans to replace 92,665 dead plants during the 2026–27 monsoon.
- Plans include assisted natural regeneration on 1,778 hectares, a 10-year maintenance window, and planting the remaining 581.5 hectares in 2026–27 and 2027–28 toward the 2,348-hectare target across Vikarabad and Rangareddy.
- The project relies on central clearances from 2014 and 2017 to divert 1,174 hectares of reserve forest, and a 2020 petition by Damagundum Forest Protection JAC challenging that diversion remains before the court.