Shorter route to airport: Give comments in week, Chandigarh Administration asks stakeholders

Chandigarh, June 13

The UT Administration today asked all stakeholders to submit their comments regarding the two proposals for an alternative shorter route to the Chandigarh international airport within seven days so that the Punjab and Haryana High Court can be apprised of it at the next date of hearing on July 11.

In compliance with the orders of the court, a meeting of a committee, chaired by UT Adviser Dharam Pal, was held in the presence of Nitin Yadav, Home Secretary, UT, today to deliberate on the two proposals to finalise the new alternative route to the airport.

The meeting was attended by all stakeholders comprising the Indian Air Force, representatives of Punjab and Haryana and the airport and the railway authorities, including Air Commodore M Lal, AOC, 12 Wing, Indian Air Force, Manvesh Singh Sidhu, Secretary, Revenue, Punjab, RS Verma, Special Secretary, Revenue, Haryana, Vinay Pratap Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Chandigarh, Vishwas Sohal, Defence Estates Officer, Chandigarh, and Arul Ranjan, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Chandigarh.

It was nearly seven years after a petition was filed in public interest claiming that the Chandigarh international airport had failed to take off to the desired heights even after spending Rs 1,400 crore that the UT Administration had last month told the court that two of its proposals would bring the airport closer to the people by nearly 8 km.

As of now, city residents have to travel 11 km to reach the airport. One of the proposed routes to the airport would reduce the distance to just about 2.85 km. The other proposed route would mean travelling for just about 3.32 km.