March 9: The government has redrawn the boundary of the proposed airport city in Andal, avoiding coal reserves in at least four places.

Coal India had earlier asked the government to relocate the project, saying parts of it, for which the company has an underground mining lease, had substantial coal reserves.

Chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti, industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen, Coal India chairman Parthasarathi Bhattacharya and officials of Bengal Aerotropolis, the consortium promoting the project, met at Writers’ Buildings today. After the meeting, Sen said: “The government understands that coal reserves in at least four sites need to be preserved and a new plan has been drawn up accordingly. We have placed the plan before Coal India for consideration.”

The Coal India boss said: “A team of technical experts will look into the proposal.”

The next round of talks is scheduled for March 20.