SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, on Monday, reviewed the proposed expansion of Baljek airport in Garo Hills with officials of the Transport department via video conference.
The chief minister said that the Transport department and West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner have been directed to immediately undertake identification and taking over possession of additional land as required by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and obtain the Expression of Interest (EOI) for flight routes so that they can be submitted to AAI.
The defunct Baljek airport is about 33 km from Tura, the district headquarters of West Garo Hills, and 310 km from Shillong.
The airport, designed to handle 20-seater aircraft, was inaugurated in October, 2008.
The airport currently does not have scheduled commercial air service and plans are up to extend its 3,300-feet runway by another 1,200 feet. An additional land of 58 acres has been acquired for expansion of the airport.
The limited runway at Baljek is one of the main reasons the airport has not been able to handle Dornier and ATR aircraft. The only time a Dornier aircraft landed was during the inauguration of the airport by the then President of India, Pratibha Patel, in 2008.