SHILLONG: Since it was inaugurated with much fanfare by Pratibha Patil, the then President of India, almost four years back, the Baljek Airport in West Garo Hills has remained non-functional.
In a bid to revive it, the State Government has initiated talks with some private airline companies for operating smaller aircraft from there.
Transport Minister HDR Lyngdoh recently said that the negotiations were going on between the State Government and Spirit Air in this regard.
He said that Government was looking forward to introduce a flight from Kolkata to Tura via Shillong, which would go a long way in catering to the passengers of Garo Hills
It may be mentioned that the district administration has already started the process of land acquisition to expand the runway since the present runway is too small and only 16-seater aircraft can land or take off from the airport.
Reacting to a query, he said that the Airport Authority of India would take over the possession of the airport later.
The airport set up at Jengjal, around 33 kms from Tura, was built at a cost of Rs 12.52 crore. It was inaugurated on October 23, 2008 by Patil when the UDP-NCP led government was in power in the state.
Since its inception, the project was marred in controversy as the proposal was sent to the Centre in 1983, but was sanctioned only in Speaking about the controversy surrounding the Umroi airport, the Minister said the expansion work of the airport would be taken up only after the land acquisition issue is resolved. The compensation for most of the land acquired had been paid by Government, he said adding Government had already taken up the issue of installation of Instrument Landing System (ILS) in the airport with the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
