Shimla: The way for the expansion of Gaggal Airport in Kangra district is almost cleared. The expert group has also submitted its report to the government on the report of social impact assessment done for lengthening this airstrip.
This report is also positive. The report has been received by the Principal Secretary Tourism through DC Kangra. The state government has to accept it and with this the process of land acquisition will start again.
The work on the expansion of Kangra Airport is going on at a very fast pace. For this, the work of Social Impact Assessment was given to the Public Administration Institute, which was completed by the agency SR Asia.
This report has come within the stipulated time of two months. Apart from the Panchayat Pradhans of Gram Panchayat Gagal and Gram Panchayat Rachiyalu, two HAS officers were also appointed in this.
After the arrival of this report, the state government will take a decision on this and then there will be notification of land acquisition under section 11. The acquisition will be in accordance with the 2013 Act and will be completed in two phases.
About 1200 families will be affected by this, which will be resettled elsewhere. About 2000 crores are going to be spent on land acquisition, which will be borne by the state government.
The runway at Gaggal Airport will be increased from the present 1376 meters to 3010 metres. After this, big ships like Boeing and Airbus will be able to land here.
The most important thing in this is that for the expansion of this airport, a runway will be built on top of Manjhi Ghat. It will be a brownfield category airport, which will be expanded by the Airport Authority of India.(HDM)
