AGARTALA, March 6 (TIWN):Chief Secretary G.K. Rao will convene a meeting on 7 March at secretariat to discuss the land issue related to Agartala Airport. The meeting would be attended by officials of district administration and airport of authority. The modernization and construction of new terminal building of the airport came to a saturation point on the issue of land.A highly placed source of state government said TIWN that after giving around 72 acres of land to the Airport, they are demanding more 9 of land for extension of land is required for extension of the runway. Then a joint survey was conducted by the district administration and airport authority for acquiring the land, the state government is willing to give the land only after getting a formal requisition from the authority.

“We told them to accommodate the necessary space from the staff quarter areas. They said at last that 10 acres of land would suffice for the purpose out of which they would provide around 7 acres from existing land area. The state government was requested to provide rest 3 acres”,  said the official..

Meanwhile, all 157 families  have been relocated in the process of modernizing the airport  and  was  shifting is report to be comlete. All compensation and rehabilitation benefits  were given to the  relocated families . Construction of the new terminal building and modernization work initative was taken on 2013, due that time it was assured by ministry of civil aviation  that the work would be completed by 2016. But even after two years, AAI failed to clear the Rs 350 crore project from union ministry.

The AAI has undertaken a Rs.300-crore project to modernize Agartala Airport and upgrade it to international standards by 2016 since the airport is the second busiest one after Guwahati Airport.