The Odisha government has decided to develop the Rasgovindpur airfield, lying abandoned since World War-II, into a modern airstrip for commercial use under UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) scheme.

The airstrip is in Odisha’s tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj district.

The state government has deposited Rs 26.03 crore with the ministry of defence to take possession of 160.35 acres of land from Rasgovindpur airfield and convert it into an airstrip under the UDAN scheme. The land is now under the possession of the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur, under the ministry of defence.

The Rasgovindpur airfield, also known as Amarda airfield, if developed into an airstrip, will immensely benefit the people of north Odisha, particularly, Balasore and Mayurbhanj. While Balasore is 30 km away from the airfield, Baripada, the district headquarters of Mayurbhanj, is hardly 35 km away from it. One can also easily connect to Kharagpur after one gets down at the airstrip. It’s only 109 km from the airstrip.

In a letter to the director, ITR, Chandipur, the Odisha government said Rs 26.03 crore has already been deposited in the bank account of the defence estates officer, Odisha Circle Bhubaneswar, towards cash compensation amount for handing over 160.35 acres of defence land to the government of Odisha for development of airstrip at Rasgovindpur under UDAN (infra) scheme.

“You are therefore requested to kindly initiate the process for handing over of 160.35 acre of defence land in favour of district magistrate and collector, Mayurbhanj,” said the letter. The airport also has the infrastructure for setting up aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities. The airport is closer to the DRDO’s Chandipur base at Balasore.

The handing over of land would be done through a board of officers with members both from the state government and the ministry of defence. The state government will implement suitable traffic control measures in the vicinity of military pockets during and after the development of the airstrip to the satisfaction of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Historian Anil Dhir said the Rasgovindpur airfield had a short but illustrious history, which has never been made public. “It was made during the Second World War (1939-45) as a forward airfield against the Japanese conquest of Burma. The large strip was used as a landing ground for planes and a training space for special bombing missions,” he said. Its runway, which is over 3.5km, is the longest runway in Asia. The total runways, taxiways and aprons together constitute more than 60km. It was abandoned after the war.”

He said very few people knew that the Odisha skies had seen the crash of two giant aircraft, which had collided with each other and resulted in the death of 14 airmen.

“On July 26, 1945, two British Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator four-engine bombers collided at a low altitude near the secret Amarda or Rasgovindpur airfield. As many as Fourteen airmen — the crew of the two aircraft — died in the crash. The airmen belonged to Britain, the Netherlands, Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand. One of them was an Indian. We now demand that a memorial be set up there,” Dhir said.