Agartala, July 21: The West Tripura district administration and the Agartala Municipal Council have decided to restrict erection of tall structures within 20km of the airport here given the state government’s demand to upgrade it to an international one.

A high-level meeting was chaired by West Tripura district magistrate Kiran Gittye in his office to discuss the issue threadbare. Director of Agartala airport, S.D. Burman, state pollution control board chairman Mihir Deb, central zonal officer of AMC Asim Saha and representatives of mobile service providers were also present.

Official sources in the district magistrate’s office said there were altogether 177 high mobile towers on top of high-rise buildings within a 20km radius of the Agartala airport that created problems for inbound and outbound flights.

“In the meeting, the district magistrate asked representatives of mobile companies to submit detailed reports on the location of their towers with heights. It was decided that towers taller than 30 metres would not be allowed close to the airport, while beyond that and within 20km, no tower taller than 60 metres and above would be allowed,” a source said.

The source said a final decision regarding allowable height of buildings would be taken in the next meeting scheduled for the first week of August.

The meeting also discussed the issue of unauthorised erection of tall mobile towers and it was decided that these would be dismantled after obtaining a full report about their location and height of these.

“The dismantling of towers and buildings already in existence may require an amendment of building construction and other relevant rules of the AMC but we are already consulting our legal team over the issue,” Saha said.