Itanagar: The Arunachal Pradesh government on Thursday said that it had no role in shifting the greenfield airport from Karsingsa to Hollongi.
“The state government has no role in shifting of the airport site nor has any say in its construction,” a press statement from the Chief Minister’s Office said.
The state government issued the clarification on the issue as the Banderdewa Circle Intellectual Forum (BCIF) is continuing with their agitation over shifting of the airport from Karsingsa to Hollongi.
The statement said that the state government favoured Karsingsa site since the beginning (March 2006). In the intervening period of official procedures, the Public
Investment Board (PIB) in March 2009 raised some observations due to higher cost on earth work and suggested to explore alternate site besides, recommending use of Lilabari airport instead of constructing a new one in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Ministry of Defence issued a NOC on June 12, 2007, for construction of the greenfield airport at Karsingsa with several preconditions mandatory to operationalise the airport at later stages.
It was found by the Technical Committee and the departments concerned that it would be difficult to abide by the preconditions in case the airport was established at Karsingsa, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) recommended Hollongi as the new site but the state government responded by writing to the Union Civil Aviation ministry on three occasions that it had decided to have the airport at Karsingsa.
“The state government cited many reasons for its choice of Karsingsa site like land requisition in Hollongi would be a cumbersome process as half the area belongs to private individuals, Hollongi site also falls in the disputed inter- state boundary of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam with no solution in sight, about half the area of the Hollongi site falls under Drupang reserve forest and as such clearance from the ministry concerned would take time,” the statement said.
The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation then formed an inter-ministerial committee which visited both the sites on May 24, 2012, to make comparative studies from operational and financial aspects.
However, on July this year, the Technical Committee rejected the Banderdewa site on reasons that the area is surrounded by hilly terrains and obstacles, besides limited scope for future expansion and poor safety environment and high cost implication.
“The airport will be for the whole state not where it will be set up, thus the location is not important but the airport as the state needs it for providing air link to the rest of the country,” the statement added. (PTI)