Bagdogra land check after CM push

SOUMYA DE SARKAR, TT, Siliguri, June 25: State officials today took the first step to remove encumbrances on the plot required to install a night-landing system at Bagdogra airport, days after the chief minister's instruction to hand over the land to the airport authority.

"Our officials visited the land near Bagdogra airport today. We have 25 to 30 electric poles there which will be shifted to peripheral areas. Our officials were there at the site to make an assessment of the entire task. The process of shifting the poles will start shortly," Sibes Deb, the regional manager, Darjeeling, of WBSEDCL said over phone from Calcutta.

"We have demarcated the land again, which would be handed over to AAI," said Shibabrata Mukherjee, the block land department officer of Phansidewa. The main hurdle is the shifting of three to four encroacher families from the government land. The families, according to district administration sources, have asked for higher compensation than what was offered to other settlers.

"An alternative location to rehabilitate the families has been already marked. It is within a 1km radius of the present spot," an official said.

"We have started persuading these families and assured them all basic facilities for living will be provided free of cost at the alternative location. We will also initiate the work of electrification at the alternative site shortly so that each of the rehabilitated families gets electricity connection in their homes," he added.

There are also two temples on the land which have to be shifted. "Both the temples would be relocated to a government land which is there close to a primary school in the locality," a source said. "Such shifting is essential as the land should be free from all encumbrances when we hand it over to the AAI."

The instrument landing system will allow planes to touch down at night as well as in bad weather at Bagdogra, which would in turn boost tourism in north Bengal.

The AAI has been asking for the land for the past three years.

A senior official in Darjeeling district administration said: "A meeting was held with the north Bengal development minister on Tuesday. Based on the decisions taken there, we are putting impetus in the process of freeing the land for the AAI. Some officials have visited the site today and have made plans to clear other issues like shifting of electric poles and religious places. Soon, we will sit with the three-four families and will resolve the issue of their rehabilitation and compensation."

AAI sources, when asked about today's visit of state officials, said they are keeping their fingers crossed.

"It seems that the meeting between our regional airport director and the chief minister on June 19 has worked. The ball has finally started rolling," an AAI official said, on condition of anonymity. "However, the families are yet to be shifted. We are keeping our fingers crossed."