North East airports get financial aid

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has reportedly allocated around Rs 3,400 crore for the upgradation of airports in the North East region. As per reports, the national airport authority has allocated funds worth Rs 1,720 crore for Assam, Rs 525 crore for Tripura, Rs 800 crore for Manipur, Rs 42 crore for Nagaland, Rs 211 crore for Arunachal Pradesh and Rs 60 crore for Mizoram. Airport development works worth Rs 934 crore had already been completed and the remaining works are expected to be completed in the next two or three years. The funds for Assam will reportedly be used for the construction of a new integrated terminal building, strengthening of the existing runway, refurbishment and a new Air Traffic Control cum technical block in Guwahati. In Dibrugarh, an aircraft hangar and a new control tower cum technical block will be constructed, the runway extended and power infrastructure installed. A new terminal building will be constructed at Silchar as well as in Jorhat, along with the modification and expansion of the existing buildings. Further, as per reports, a new integrated airport will be constructed with a hangar along with an engineering workshop at Agartala in Tripura. The expansion and revamp of the existing terminal building, resurfacing of the runway, taxiway, apron and a new isolation bay are in progress at Dimapur in Nagaland. In Meghalaya, the projects included the installation of an instrument landing system (ILS) at the Shillong airport and operationalisation and development of the Tura airport. It is also reported that the Tezu, Kailashahar and Kamalapur airports will be developed in Arunachal Pradesh. There are plans to set up a helipad or a heliport at Khowai. The Imphal airport in Manipur will have a new integrated terminal, while in Sikkim's Pakyong, the AAI will construct a greenfield airport for ATR-72 operations.