SC asks Govt to start Umroi airport work

SHILLONG: The Supreme Court on Wednesday removed the hurdles in the expansion of Umroi airport and asked the government to carry on with the project.
Supreme Court lawyer and counsel for the state government, Ranjan Mukherjee, said over phone from Delhi that during the hearing on Wednesday, the court directed the government to start the expansion work without further delay.
The court also wanted the state government to take action against anyone who obstructs the work.
Another direction was to hand over the 32 acres of land to the Defence authorities as the government had earlier acquired additional land from the Defence for the airport expansion.
Mukherjee said the court also do not want anybody to put any obstruction for handing over the land to the Defence.
Earlier, the High Court in 2015 had asked the state government to make the airport fully functional.
However, a landlady filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the land acquisition for the expansion project which led to the apex court passing a stay order.
Though the stay was regarding land acquisition, the expansion work was affected due to this.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the stay was vacated by the court.