Shillong, Mar 12:Over 21 acres of land for the proposed expansion of Umroi airport has been handed to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the project is set to take off soon.
According to the action taken report submitted by the State government to the Meghalaya High Court today, land of 11.75 acres acquired by the Ri-Bhoi district administration had been given to the Transport Department on January 28 and the land was later handed over to the AAI on March 6.
Further, the Defence authority has given 10.30 acres of land for the airport expansion project to the Transport Department as per agreement signed on February 27 and the land had been handed over to the AAI on March 6.
In exchange for the 10.30 acres of defence land, the State government has given 7.7255 acres of land to the Defence authorities on March 6.
The concept and design for the airport expansion and allied works was approved by the Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) on January 27.
The execution level approval will be submitted by the AAI to the DGCA along with all required documents.
The AAI is also awaiting the required environmental clearance from the Centre and State government for the project.
The division bench of Chief Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh directed Additional Advocate General K Khan to inform it about the timeline for securing environmental clearance from the state government so that the project can proceed further.
The matter is scheduled for hearing on March 24.
