Quashing earlier claims of an imaginary airport at Doloo in the Cachar district of Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday announced that the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation formally recommended the site clearance for the proposed greenfield airport.

The reports of an imaginary airport in Cachar's Doloo arose after the Union Ministry had revealed in response to an RTI query in 2022 that it had not received any proposal for the construction of the airport.

Protests led by the Doloo Tea Estate Save Coordination Committee also broke out on June 15 after the response from the Civil Aviation Ministry regarding not receiving a proposal.

The plans to construct a greenfield airport in the Southern Assam district near Silchar were announced by the Assam Chief Minister in January 2022. Soon after, swathes of the Doloo Tea Estate was cleared sparking the protests.

However, in an apparent declaration of all such claims to be null and void, the CM Himanta Biswa Sarma informed today that the Steering Committee of the Union Civil Aviation Ministry has formally recommended 'site clearance' for the proposed greenfield airport in Doloo.

"With this decision of the Steering Committee, we are now one step closer to ushering a remarkable connectivity transformation in Barak Valley," he wrote in a post on X.

The Assam Chief Minister wrote, "I am happy to share that the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation’s Steering Committee for Green Field Airports has formally recommended “Site Clearance” for the proposed green field airport in Doloo, Cachar District. Under the Greenfield Airport Policy, establishing a new airport is broadly a two stage process - site clearance followed by in principle approval. With this decision of the Steering Committee, we are now one step closer to ushering a remarkable connectivity transformation in Barak Valley."