The Assam government was acquiring the land for the construction of a Greenfield airport in Cachar district and the process was going on smoothly, district authorities said on Friday.
The district administration issued a clarification following a reply by Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia to a letter written by Trinamool Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev where he had stated that till date the ministry has received ”no proposal to construct a Greenfield airport in Cachar District of Assam. However, if any such proposal from any Airport Developer or the State Government is received, the same would be considered as per the Greenfield airports Policy, 2008.”
Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Pankaj Kumar Deka said in a written statement that the entire process of land acquisition for construction of Airport at Doloo was done following due procedure.
“There are many questions being raised on the proposed Airport at Doloo. It is again informed to all concerned that this particular land was taken up as per instructions received from the state government following due procedure. The land in question was supposed to be handed-over free of encumbrance. It is in the final stage of execution and stakeholders are requested to kindly cooperate”.
He clarified that the Government of Assam (GoA) is acquiring the land from its fund for the development of an airport.
The completion of the formalities would lead to further steps which will be taken by both the state and central governments.
The Assam government and Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) are in constant touch for the last three years over the issue and a team of the Airport Authority of India had first visited in January 2020 from Delhi for site inspection, Deka said.
Quoting Clause 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 of the Greenfield Airport Act, 2008, the official further stated, “in the North Eastern areas, where it may not be feasible to follow the PPP route, AAI could set-up Greenfield Airports by itself, as may be approved by the Government on a case to case basis…. In north-eastern states the government can allot land to private companies/AAI for the setting up of an airport and vice-versa.”
Moreover, according to Clause 5.4, the government can give land to the authority without charging any money to facilitate the development of a Greenfield Airport, he said,
The official further stated that everything was going on smoothly as per rules and requested the public not to panic and urged all stakeholders to co-operate.
The Silchar airport at Kumbhirgram is a defence airport and hence there are limitations in its expansion. but the pressure has increased with the neighbouring states of Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya depending on Silchar Airport.
”This is one of the prime reasons why the Barak Valley needs a good Airport. Apart from this, the new airport will also bring in job opportunities for many and usher in overall development”, the official added.
Land acquisition of Doloo Tea Estate for the construction of the Greenfield Airport had led to protests by the tea garden workers but the government had assured that no worker will be evicted from their homes and there will be no job cuts.
Silchar’s BJP MP Rajdeep Roy had said that this was not an eviction drive but only a land acquisition process, which is going on for an important infrastructural project in Barak Valley that has been neglected for a long time.
Only 2500 bighas of land are being used for the airport while the rest of the land will be used for planting more trees and the Doloo tea estate management has given its consent to the district administration regarding this, he said.
