TAKE-OFF TIME: Inside Behala Flying Club. A Telegraph picture

Red crosses on the outer walls of several houses at Behala’s Nabapalli have made the residents jittery. They fear their homes will be demolished for development of the Behala Flying Club into an airport.

Employees of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) marked the crosses on the walls, said the residents.

According to the AAI, the airport will be modernised so that regional flights can operate from there. The premises will also be used to train pilots.

The 2,800-ft runway of the Behala Flying Club needs to be doubled to allow operation of ATR-72s (72-seater planes), said a government official. Parts of ward 127-132 of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) and ward 10-12 of Maheshtala Municipality are likely to be acquired.

“We have stopped sanctioning building plans in these areas and asked the developers of a 14-storeyed estate to make it a few storeys shorter,” added the official.

The councillor of ward 129 of the CMC, Anjan Das, said many people in the area would have to be displaced if the expansion plan is carried out.

The chairman of the borough, Shobhon Deb Chattopadhyay, said there was no plan to demolish houses yet. “The AAI will first submit a survey plan to the government. If it is sanctioned, the next step will be to acquire the land,” he said.

The residents are not convinced. Tarun Banerjee, who lives in the area, said: “On an August afternoon, I saw some men taking measurements in front of my house. They put a red cross on the walls of a neighbour’s house.” The men had identified themselves as AAI employees.

On August 28, residents of the area wrote to the state transport minister, local MLA and the local councillor, seeking clarification on the issue. There was no response.

“Most of us are originally from Bangladesh. We have been displaced often enough,” said 80-year-old Sisir Ranjan Das, a resident. “Had we seen the people who were taking measurements, we would have roughed them up.”

The regional executive director (east) of the AAI, S.P.S. Bakshi, said: “We want to cause the minimum possible inconvenience to the people. One must look at the positives. Calcutta will stand to gain in the long run because of the project.”

Bidhan Saha, a shipping company employee, who has been living in the area since childhood, said: “The authorities had made the same mistake in Nandigram. Keeping the people in the dark can lead to complications. Will the government never learn?”

Councillor Das said: “If the people must be displaced, I will try to ensure that they get a good compensation package. As for the red marks, they were probably put by the CMC workers for the laying of pipes.”