Two airports in North Bengal were closed due to infrastructural deterioration. One of them is Balurghat, the other is Kochbihar Airport. This time the Calcutta High Court has taken initiative to re-launch the air service there. The state’s apex court has summoned a report from the Center and the Airports Authority of India. Besides, what are the airlines thinking? The court will also have to state their position on that.
A division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj held a virtual hearing in a public interest litigation filed by a lawyer named Ashok Haldar. At the hearing, the plaintiff’s lawyer Kalyan Chakraborty said, ‘There are already airports at Balurghat and Kochbihar. Permanent and temporary staff are working at these two airports. It costs an average of over Rs 1 crore per month. However, as these two airports are not operational, the people of North Bengal are not getting any benefit. That is why arrangements should be made to fly at least 100 seats here.
The lawyer further told the court, “Another airport is under construction. That is Tura Airport in Meghalaya. If air service can be started from there to Kolkata via Balurghat, Kochbihar, then the residents of North Bengal will be able to travel to Kolkata at low cost.
After that, Additional Advocate General Avratosh Majumder on behalf of the state government said in a tone of consent, “If the central government launches air services at those airports, then we have no objection.” We are ready to fly there. ‘
Where is the difficulty of launching such airlines? A division bench of the High Court summoned the two authorities for a report on the matter.
It is to be noted that Kochbihar Airport was closed last July due to several reasons. On the other hand, during the Second World War, the British built a temporary airport at Balurghat due to military needs. In the 1950s, Surekha Air Service and later Air Force Air Service launched Dornier Airlines from this airport. But that too stopped.
.