About:

Nijhgadh Internation Airport is a proposed hub-airport in Kolhabi which if constructed, would be the largest airport in Asia and the fourth largest airport in the World with an estimated investment of $6.5 Billion. The airport perimeter covers 8000 hectares of land, mostly in Kolhabi Municipality, and partially in Gadhimai Municipality, Haraiya V.D.C., Kakadi V.D.C., Karaiya V.D.C. and Sapahi V.D.C. of Bara District, Province No. 2, Nepal. 

Issue:

In December 2019, the Supreme Court of Nepal has halted the construction of the project due to an improper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Yet, Recently it's been approved against Supreme Court Decision. This project has drawn several criticisms over the years for several issues: 

• Impact on Biodiversity And Environment: The project area is a heavily forested area and the forest is known to be the last remaining native hardwood forest in the eastern Terai. The Environmental Impact Assessment showed that more than 2 million trees; scattered around the area of 8,045 hectares (19,880 acres) is expected to be cut down, preventing 22,500 tons of carbon from being sequestered every year. So it's an ECOCIDE. 
• Socio-Economic Impact: CAAN acquired 24 hectares of land of Tangiya Basti for the development of the airport. This left a total of 7,500 population living in 1,476 households landless and face displacement. It is said that the government had provided shelters to the flood victims from different places of Nepal in Tangiya in 1975.

Alternatives:

• Sarnath Forest Development Project located in Murtiya of Sarlahi district; covers 2700 hectares of newly planted Eucalyptus. After completing her visit to the Sarnath field in October 2018, Chanda Rana, an environmental activist said, "We need only 1300 hectares of land for International Airport and 600 hectares for other infrastructure. This is more than enough for Airport construction at Sarnath, Murtiya site. Why do we need 8000 hectares of the jungle"?[8] Rana along with ten other activists filed a public interest petition in September 2019 to stop the construction of the airport at Nijgadh. The petitioners who filed a separate PIL, which led the SCON to halt Nijgadh's construction, also suggested constructing the new airport in Murtiya.

• The best alternative of Nijgadh airport would be upgrading the existing international airport in Kathmandu. This includes increasing length of a solely operational runway 02/20, increasing length of Taxiway 'G' to meet thresholds of the runway, extending operational hours, alleviating immigration procedures, increasing parking bays, etc.

Deforestation of NIjhgadh is an Ecocide. Government has been 
 
1. Ignored regulations for approval,  

2. Muzzled+ignored experts, 

3. Dismissed protests,

4. Defied court order.

Now the President gives go ahead. An Ecological & Economic disaster, but ~$500,000,000 deal for PM & Party. Let sign this petition to tell our government that it's a bad decision to give go-ahead to this project. Let's Protect Nijhgadh and People whose lives depend on it.