SHILLONG : The Shillong Airport expansion, stuck for years in red tape, finally got some real movement this week. The Meghalaya High Court on Wednesday noted that DGCA has given execution-level approval for the runway work, and told everyone involved to stop dragging their feet and actually start construction.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice W. Diengdoh was hearing the PIL when it came out that a meeting between all the stakeholders happened at the airport on July 30, chaired by Transport Secretary Sanjay Goyal.
In an affidavit filed on August 4, the state government told the court it had already given DGCA a written assurance, way back on December 10 last year, that all obstacles violating the Obstacle Limitation Surfaces would be cleared out by September 30 this year. That assurance seems to have done the trick, because DGCA cleared the execution-level approval the very same day, August 4, for the runway to be extended toward the Runway 04 end, plus shoulder construction, the Runway End Safety Area, and other allied work by AAI, though ten conditions still apply.
This whole thing has dragged on for a long time. Anyone who’s been following the case knows the court has been on the state government’s and DGCA’s back for over a year now. Environmental clearance came in March, the construction contract went to KCC Buildcon in April with 18 months to finish including monsoon buffer, and then the file basically sat untouched at DGCA for months. By June, the bench was warning that every month of delay would just push up costs, money that taxpayers end up covering.
Things got so bad that by late July, the court lost patience entirely and set up a High-Level Committee, roping in the Chief Secretary, Transport Secretary, PWD Secretary, AAI’s General Manager, and DGCA’s Joint Director, giving them a strict deadline of July 31 to sort things out.
So this week’s development is basically the payoff of that pressure. The court didn’t mince words either: it wants the actual digging and building to start now, not more paperwork shuffling. It has asked every party to file status reports before the next hearing so it can track whether work is genuinely moving on the ground or if this turns into another round of excuses.
Shillong residents who’ve long had to depend on Guwahati for bigger flights, this expansion, once it actually happens, should mean larger aircraft can finally operate out of the local airport.
Next hearing is fixed for September 1.