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Bengal

State to address hindrances due to rly tracks near Malda Airport

Kolkata: The state government is taking necessary steps to suitably address hindrances that have cropped up over the proposal of laying railway tracks close to the upcoming Malda Airport.
Sources in the state Secretariat stated that the proposal to lay railway tracks along the plot where the airport has come up is the root of all problems. According to experts, high tension electric wires that run along the railway tracks cause hindrances in flight operations. So, a solution needs to be found out ensuring normal flight operation in the airport.
Sources said the state Public Works Department that is developing the airport has brought the matter to the notice of the state Transport department. The problem that would crop up if the railway tracks connecting Malda and Buniadpur run along the airport has been explained by the PWD officials to the state Transport department who is, in turn, coordinating with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to find a solution.
Though it was proposed long ago to lay the railway tracks, the project has been taken up recently and engineers are now anticipating the problem in flight operation. According to a senior state government official, all obstacles will be ironed out and the airport will become operational as early as possible.
It may be mentioned that soon after coming to power the Mamata Banerjee government has taken up a project of improving air-connectivity between districts. Besides constructing helipads in all districts, steps are also being taken to develop airports to ensure better connectivity between North and South Bengal.
The AAI has handed over the land of Balurghat and Malda airports to the state government for a period of 30 years at a lease value of Re 1.
The state government has taken up the work to develop an almost "completely new" airport on the existing one in Malda that is spread across 114 acres of land at a projected cost of Rs 13 crore. Rites had prepared the Details Project Report (DPR) following the set guidelines of the AAI to develop the Malda Airport to a modern one.
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