The Himachal Pradesh government has constituted a multidisciplinary expert panel to appraise the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) report for land acquisition linked to the proposed Nagchala Greenfield Airport in Mandi district. According to a state government notification, the expert group has been formed under Section 7(1) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. The panel will examine and evaluate the SIA report prepared for the acquisition of land required for the airport project. As per the notification, the Deputy Commissioner of Mandi will serve as the chairperson of the expert group. An official member has been nominated in the capacity of Additional or Joint Director from Lal Bahadur Shastri Government Medical College, Ner Chowk, Mandi. The panel also includes two non-official social scientists—Vinod Kumar, Assistant Professor (Sociology) at Vallabh Government College, Mandi, and Heena, Assistant Professor (Sociology) at the same institution—who will provide independent academic inputs on the social implications of the proposed project. To ensure local representation, two members from the gram panchayats have been included in the panel. These are Shyam Lal from Chaugan village in Bhangrotu, Tehsil Balh, and Lalit Kumar from Kheuri Dom village in Rajgarh, Tehsil Balh, both in Mandi district. In addition, two experts on rehabilitation have been nominated—the District Revenue Officer, Mandi, and the Tehsildar, Balh—to assess issues related to compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement of affected families. The District Tourism Development Officer, Mandi, has also been included as the technical expert. The constitution of the SIA expert group is a key procedural step in the land acquisition process and comes amid heightened public scrutiny and local concerns over the proposed airport. The panel is expected to appraise the SIA report and submit its recommendations to the state government before any further action is taken on land acquisition.