Jamshedpur, July 13: A proposal to revive a World War II era airfield in Chakulia, barely 75 km from Jamshedpur, has been hanging fire for over six years now and traders and businessmen of Ghatshila sub-division are pinning their hopes on chief minister Arjun Munda to see through his earlier plan to convert it into a cargo hub.
Built by the British in the 1940s, and later used extensively during the 1962 war with China and the 1971 war with Pakistan for the liberation of Bangladesh, the airfield caught the eye of Munda in 2005.
Spread over 500 acres and strategically located near Jamshedpur and its lifeline, NH-33, Munda saw potential in its revival and announced plans to use it as a cargo hub of international standards.
He also wanted to start a flying school in land adjacent to it.
MLA Dinesh Sarangi, who led the campaign to revive the project in 2008, still believes it is an idea worth pursuing. “It is an attractive proposal as the airstrip is close to NH-33 and is only an hour’s drive from Jamshedpur and only three hours away from Calcutta,” he said.
The Baharagora MLA, who recently quit the BJP for being denied a ticket to contest the July 1 Jamshedpur Lok Sabha byelection, recalled how then chief minister Madhu Koda saw merit in his agitations and sought a detailed project report on reviving the airfield.
Subsequently, he sanctioned Rs 3 crore for starting the project, but nothing came of it.
“The government’s callousness on the issue is evident as it has not been able to use the sanctioned fund of Rs 3 crore for construction of a boundary wall,” said a dejected Sarangi.
Built at a cost of Rs 3 crore, Chakulia airstrip is spread over 515.44 acres. Its main runaway is of 7 km and is 70 feet wide.
Of the many airports built by the Allies during World War II, Chakulia, along with similar airfileds in Dalbhumgarh, Dudhkundi, Salua, Digri and Salbani, formed a network of airstrips to stop Japanese advances in the east.
It was during this period of the war that the 9th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron and the 10th Air Force moved there from from Karachi.
Eventually abandoned after World War II, the airstrip was under the Union civil aviation ministry till 1995. It came under the state government in 2001.
Ghatshila’s business community is now hoping that Munda as chief minister would revive his plan. Said the president of Chakulia Gaushala, P.D. Jhunjhunwala, “The local economy would have definitely got a boost if the plans to revive the airstrip were followed up in right earnest.”
Ghatshila sub-divisional officer Sandeep Bakshi said that no directive had come from Ranchi.
“We are yet to hear from the government on this front,” he said.
But Captain S.P. Sinha, the flying operation in-charge in the state civil aviation department, indicated that any revival plans would first have to consider environmental implications.
“For taking up any construction work at the Chakulia airfield, we will have to take permission from the forest department and this has led to the plan being put on hold at the moment,” he said.
