Shillong, Aug 13: A division bench of the Meghalaya High Court on Wednesday stated that although the state and Centre are conscious of the importance of expansion of the Shillong airport, required urgency and commitment in accomplishing this goal is not visible.
The division bench, consisting of Chief Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh, was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) regarding development and expansion of the Shillong Airport at Umroi.
The runway needs to be extended and hills on the approach path need to be levelled in order for bigger aircraft to be able to fly into and out of the airport. Currently only smaller propeller planes service Umroi Airport.
According to the court, it received a short note from K Khan, Additional Advocate General, on behalf of the state. The High Court said that, even now, the situation is that a fund of Rs 72,17,56,237 has been released by the state government, following a cabinet decision in June, to the District Rural Development Agency to purchase 11.75 acres of land from landowners for the expansion project.
This, in effect, is an intra-state transfer of funds and no agreement for the sale of land has been entered into with any party. “We wonder when this transferred fund will be utilised to purchase the land,” the High Court stated, while noting that the Army is willing to give up some portion of its land for the purpose of the airport expansion.
The High Court pointed out that, according to the government’s report, only the exercise of demarcation of land between Army and the state is going on and that nothing has been done to demarcate and allocate this land for airport use.
The Deputy Solicitor General, N Mozika also made a submission. Mozika submitted that the Airports Authority of India would only be able to conclude the contract for construction of infrastructure with a contractor after obtaining clearance from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), receiving environmental clearance and on acquisition of land for the airport.
The court stated that environmental clearance was expected to be obtained by October 31, 2025 and clearance by the DGCA is pending.
“In those circumstances, we can only direct that the above steps which have been taken in an absolutely usual government pace be accelerated. It is high time that this project which has been contemplated for the welfare of this State is completed as soon as possible,” the High Court stated.
The PIL will next be heard on December 8.
