SHILLONG, July 29: The High Court of Meghalaya on Monday said it is possible to operate mid-size aircraft on the 6,000-foot-long runway of the Shillong Airport at Umroi.
Hearing a PIL, a division bench in its seven-page order said that though Meghalaya has several tourist spots, it has only one airport where the operation of small aircraft such as the ATR-72 and Q-400 depends on the prevalent weather.
There are no direct flights to Shillong from major cities with passengers made to wait for up to 3 hours at the Kolkata Airport to catch the connecting flights, the court said.
Observing that the aviation industry is one of the main sources of income for a state and provides job opportunities to the youth, the court said the state government should hand over required land free from all encumbrances to develop an aerodrome jointly with the Centre.
It cited the airports at Vishakhapatnam, Khajuraho, Amritsar, Pathankot, Dehradun, Lucknow, and Varanasi where the state governments provided land free of cost for joint venture projects.
The court also referred to the detailed report of Phuyosas Yobin, who was appointed as an amicus curiae to assist it in the matter.
According to the order, the judges visited some airports across the country and met Airports Authority of India representatives to obtain their views to be implemented for the airport at Umroi.
Pilots stated that landing and taking off at Leh Airport, situated between Himalayan peaks, is a challenge but they do not find it too difficult to execute their job since the visual landing facility is intact there.
“In our view, compared to Leh Airport, the operation of bigger aircraft at Umroi may not be that difficult, as the only hurdle that stands in preventing the development of expansion is Cluster-I, which is of course situated 5 km away in the direction following runway-22 as pointed out by the amicus curiae,” the division bench said.
The bench said it was aware of the huge sum of money the expansion of Umroi would incur but reminded the state of its responsibilities as a welfare state.
Referring to the widely published visit of APJ Abdul Kalam’s visit to Mizoram in 2005, the court said the former President was annoyed when he was told it was not possible for a flight to take off at night from the Lengpui Airport.
Dr Kalam insisted on leaving for Delhi at night and the officials were compelled to light up the runway with lanterns, flaming torches, and bonfires for his flight to take off.
“Hence, where there is a will, there is a way… Unfortunately, most public servants have a pessimistic character as a result of which, the rulers, who are dependent on them, are misguided and struggling to bring about welfare measures to the public,” the court said.
The court pointed out that with the introduction of a visual landing system, proper training, and infrastructure in coordination with the Centre, it is “absolutely possible” to operate mid-size aircraft on Umroi’s 6,000 ft runway. It added that it came to this conclusion after discussions with AAI officials and pilots.
Expecting the state government to coordinate with the Centre to explore the expansion of the Shillong Airport, the court posted the matter on August 2 for filing a LiDAR survey report and to enable the Advocate General to report about the permission to visit the Paro Airport in Bhutan.
