From Our Correspondent
Agartala: The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) may deny Agartala Airport of landing and taking-off facility of heavy aircrafts for not complying with mandatory security norms, according to official sources.
As per the DGCA norms, the basic strip of the run-way should be 150 meters at 4 CA category Airports.
However, at Agartala Airport the basic strip stands at only 75 meter, which is a clear case safety norms violation. To comply with the mandatory safety norms, the DGCA has been asking the Agartala Airport to increase the basic strip in accordance with the guideline.
However, The Agartala Airport authority could not make it due to space constraint that might result in discontinue of heavy aircraft service here.
On being asked, an official of Airport on Wednesday said, they are worried for not being implemented the DGCA safety norms. Under this circumstance, the DGCA may put bar on the landing and take off facility of heavy aircrafts at Agartala Airport on safety ground at any time.
To settle the issue, Secretary of Transport department Kishore Ambuly had also approached the CPWD authority to vacate the area and settle their office at Mukut Bipani, a three-storied building at Lichu Bagan area.
However, the CPWD authority did not pay heed on the Ambuly’s initiative.
According to AAI officials, several development projects have got stalled at Agartala Airport due to space constraint. If the projects are rolled out, not only infrastructure, there would have been massive job generation centering the Airport.