The Meghalaya High Court today noted that only the essential preliminary ground work for expansion and development of the Shillong airport in Umroi has been done and asked authorities to push through with the project and make it operational.
A division bench of Chief Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh perused an action taken report of the project filed by the State government and said, “From now, a substantial amount of work is required to be done at appreciable pace to make the project operational in the near future.”
The court said the Ministry of Defence, the State government, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Director General of Civil Aviation has so as to apply the necessary thrust for the project to become operational.
In its submission, the state said the AAI requires a total of 22 acres of land for expansion and development of the airport.
According to a draft master plan, runway 4 (RWY 4) would be extended by 571 metres taking its total length to 2400 metres. On completion of this extension of RWY 4, landing operation of aircrafts would be from the runway 22 (RWY 22) and their take off from RWY 4.
The Defence department on April 17 accorded sanction to provide 10.30 acres of the military land at Umroi Military Station on an agreement with the State for transfer of land of equal value.
The State informed the court that the Cabinet on June 4 approved the purchase of 11.75 acres of land for Rs 72, 17, 56,237 by entering into sale agreements with individual land owners. The land is expected to be acquired by July, 2025, it said.
Deputy Solicitor General of India Dr. N Mozika, who appeared for the AAI, told the court that the tender for carrying out construction, renovation and alteration of the infrastructure of the airport would be granted to a contractor immediately after land has been acquired and obtaining necessary environmental clearance.
He informed the court that AAI would also have to remove some impediments to aircraft operation caused by the presence of mounds, trees etc. along the flight path to the airport.
The court has scheduled August 12, 2025 to review the progress of the work and asked all authorities to file their short action taken reports.
