The Meghalaya High Court has asked the state government to pick a land for construction of Greenfield airport in the state.

The directive was passed by a division bench of the Meghalaya high court headed by chief justice Sanjib Banerjee while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the matter.

In an order, the Meghalaya High Court said, “The state, in consultation with Airports Authority of India (AAI) or even the officials stationed at the Umroi airport should make an attempt to identify a few pockets of land and, thereupon, AAI may be invited to give a preliminary opinion as to whether any of such pockets would be feasible for a Greenfield airport project.”

Nevertheless, the Court made it clear that it would not interfere or impose its will if the states and the union governments oppose to set up a new airport in the state.

At the same time, the court also said that a new airport close to Shillong may give a fillip to the state and its development initiatives. 

At present ATRs and smaller aircraft like Bombardiers are landing at the existing airport and the length of the runway and the surrounding hills do not make it feasible for wide-bodied aircraft to call at Umroi, the court observed. The Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Airport at Guwahati is about 140 km away and over 3 hour's drive, whereas Shillong Airport is about 30 minutes from the city, it added. 

Moreover, the Court remarked that though Meghalaya is a hilly state it also has large tracts of plains and the closest place that can have a bigger airport appears, possibly to be Ri-Bhoi district or in the West Khasi Hills. The AAI had in its reports indicated that Umroi where the Shillong Airport is located may not be the ideal location for expansion of the airport to receive bigger aircraft since the extension of the runway involves falling hills at a high cost.