The landscape around the airfield in Malda. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, July 11: The district administration here has decided to return the land around the airfield here to its rightful owner, the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

The area had been encroached upon and, according to additional district magistrate Bhabani Prasad Barat, the state transport department had written to the district administration not to spare any effort to recover the land that belonged to the AAI.

Accordingly, July 26 has been fixed as the date for the first inspection by a team of officials from the AAI, Eastern Railway, land department and the Englishbazar municipality.

?The AAI had written to the state transport department complaining about the encroachment. They had also pointed out that many multi-storied buildings had come up near the airfield which would affect the proposed resumption of commercial flights,? Barat said.

Sources in the district administration said the AAI had complained against the Englishbazar municipality that the civic body had flouted all norms regarding aviation safety and had allowed not only multi-storeyed buildings to come up, but permitted the installation of mobile phone towers as well.

?The state transport department has instructed us to carry out a complete survey and submit a detailed report with a map showing the precise extent of the encroachment,? the additional district magistrate said.

The district administration for the first time has created a file on developments concerning the airfield. It has also formed a committee to look into the issue. Besides administrative officials, the committee comprises the local MLA as well as the chairman of the Englishbazar municipality.

Shekhar Kumar Chanda, the AAI officer-in-charge of the Malda airfield, said it was not yet clear how much land the AAI actually had.

?The reintroduction of commercial flights in and out of here is in jeopardy due to the rampant encroachment and the building boom around the airfield,? Chanda said.

He said last year a team of AAI officials had inspected the area. However, the measures to reopen the airfield could not be introduces because of the existing hurdles.

The need for the joint inspection arose since the railways too owe land in the area.

The new chairman of the Englishbazar municipality, Nihar Ghosh, said he was completely new to the issue.

?I am not certain during which period the permission was granted by the civic body to carry out these constructions around the airfield,? Ghosh said.

The last aeroplane took off and landed here in 1987, when Vayudoot withdrew its services.