Siliguri, June 29: The Malda and Balurghat airports which have turned into veritable playground and grazing land because of decades of disuse will be taken on lease by the Bengal government for putting in place infrastructure and bringing in airline companies for operations.
Today, the Bengal transport department and the Airports Authority of India signed an agreement under which the state would take the two airports on lease for 30 years for an annual fee of Re 1.
Sources in the administration as well as the AAI said it would be difficult for the state to clear the airport land in Balurghat and Malda of encroachment and find airlines for services. The agreement would be subject to the approval of the Union cabinet and sources in the AAI said there might be no objection from the Centre.
The deal was signed in the presence of chief minister Mamata Banerjee at Uttarkanya here.
"The chief minister is keen on the revival of Malda and Balurghat airports. She had brought the matter to the notice of the Union minister of civil aviation at a meeting in Calcutta in September and sought the transfer of the airport land to the state from the AAI. We will have the right to develop infrastructure on the land at both the airports. The state cabinet has already taken a decision to the effect. In Balurghat, the state PWD will immediately start repairing the existing runway. Development work in Malda will also begin as early as possible," said a government official.
The Balurghat airport is spread over 132.66 acre, while Malda aerodrome has 114 acre. Both the airports have been defunct since 1987 when Vayudoot stopped 22-seater flight services.
The decision to develop the two airports has surprised officials of the AAI and the state government.
"Airline services at the private airport in Andal had come to a halt just a fortnight ago because of shortage of passengers. We fail to understand why the state wants air services to resume at Malda and Balurghat airports. We don't think any viability study has been conducted. Airline companies, even if they fly 12-seater planes, will not get passengers at the two airports," said another government official who didn't want to be named.
Pictures by Mithun Roy and Surajit Roy
In Malda, local people have encroached on a sizeable portion of land near the runway and set up shanties. In the past decades, multi-storied buildings have come up close by. The high-rises are threats to flights during landing and take-off.
Children descend on the Malda runway with ball and stumps and play cricket.
In Balurghat also, people have built shanties on the airport land. Cattle can be seen grazing on the land.
The state official said the government would have to spend a lot of money to remove the encroachers.
"Right from clearing the encroachments to the reconstruction of the runway and development of infrastructure, the state will have to spend a considerable amount. If no airline company comes up and the infrastructure remains idle, there is a chance of encroachment and damage to the runway again," the official added.
He was echoed by the AAI officials.
"We have made our own assessment of both the airports. We have found several limitations in developing the Malda and Balurghat aerodromes. First of all, land has been encroached upon and despite several communications from our side, administrations of districts concerned did nothing," said an AAI official.
"Another important issue is that these airports cannot be viable for airline companies. There were many attempts in the past five years to operate flights to Cooch Behar and still, they were not successful," he added.
There have been weekly helicopter services to the Malda and Balurghat airports from Calcutta for the past one year.
After the agreement signing, Mamata said: "We signed an MoU with the Airports Authority of India today and will carry out infrastructure development on the land at Malda and Balurghat airports."
