Travellers Made To Wait Hours For Connecting Flights: Meghalaya High Court Calls For Expansion Of 'Umroi' Airport To Boost Tourism

The Meghalaya High Court on Monday (July 29) called for the expansion of its only Airport (Umroi) at Shillong to enable bigger aircrafts to land and take off, so as to boost State's tourism.

Addressing the challenges faced by travellers to visit the State due to the lack of direct flights from major parts of the country, the court said they can't be made to wait for several hours at Kolkata Airport to board small aircraft to visit Meghalaya.

Considering the fact that the tourism industry is one of the main sources of income for the people of the State, the bench comprising Chief Justice S. Vaidyanathan and Justice W. Diengdoh said that it is necessary to improve the Aviation Industry to become a preferred mode of transportation for the visitors as there is no direct train connectivity and visitors have to take an alternate route to visit the State.

The Court opined that improvement of Air Services in the State would facilitate more tourism and minimize the time of journey.

Amicus Curiae Phuyosas Yobin submitted a detailed report stating that Umroi Airport is more or less similar to the Leh Airport where A320 aircraft can easily land. The Amicus stated that a 6,000 ft runway is sufficient to operate A320 aircraft provided training must be imparted to Pilots to land and take off from the airport and the visual mode facility should be set up to enable Pilots to execute their job perfectly.

The Court expected the State Government to coordinate with the Central Government to enable the facilities such as Visual Landing System, proper training, and infrastructure at the existing airport to make it possible for the mid-sized and bigger aircrafts to become operational from the State's only Airport.

“On the whole, in our considered opinion after having discussion with the Officials of AAI and Pilots, it is absolutely possible to land and take off mid-size Aircrafts apart from ATR in the runway, having the length of 6000 sq.ft at Shillong, Meghalaya. The only facility which Pilots expect from the State Government is to introduce Visual Landing System, proper training and infrastructure in coordination with the Central Government. This Court expects the State Government to coordinate with the Central Government to find out the possibility to expand the Airport at Shillong, which, not only fetches income to the State, but also is beneficial to its citizens.”, the court said.

Interestingly, the Court had recalled an incident about Former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam when he had to wait for several hours at the Umroi Airport because take-off was not possible at night. After Dr. Kalam's commandment, the authorities made arrangements to get him to fly to Delhi in the night itself. They lit up the runway with lanterns, flaming torches, and bonfires to facilitate take-off.

The Court gave credit to the officials who facilitated Dr. Kalam's take-off in extreme situations and compared their performance with the current officials.

“There are two types of Officials everywhere and one being an optimistic, who will complete his task and make everything best possible with the available resources and on the other hand, being a pessimistic, who will always speak about negative sides of everything, Unfortunately, most of the Public Servants are having pessimistic characters, as a result of which, Rulers, who are dependent on them, are misguided and struggling to bring about welfare measures to public. The French Ruler Napoleon Bonaparte said that “The word impossible is not in my dictionary.” Similarly, the French Moralist uttered that “Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.”, the court observed.

Appearance:

For the Petitioner : Mr. P. Yobin, Amicus Curiae with Mr. S. Singpho, Adv

For the Respondents : Mr. A. Kumar, Advocate General with Mr. K. Khan, AAG Mr. A.H. Kharwanlang, Addl. Sr.GA Dr. N. Mozika, DSGI with Ms. A. Pradhan, Adv

Case Details: Registrar General, High Court of Meghalaya Vs. State of Meghalaya & ors, PIL No.4/2021 with MC (PIL) No.2/2021

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