The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has set September 17 as the deadline for the companies to complete construction of Rupsi airport, 23km from here.

The overhaul of Rupsi airport is taking place under the Udan-II scheme, which proposes rejuvenation of five airports in the Northeastfor flights to be operated under the regional connectivity scheme.

A high-level team of the Airports Authority of India, led by Sanjiv Jindal, regional executive director, accompanied by Kaushal Kumar, general manager (C&S), Northeast region (NER), Dilip Kumar, security Captain and other district officials of Kokrajhar has visited the airport and took over the stock of the construction on Wednesday.

H.P. Rajkhowa, sub divisional officer of Parbatjhora subdivision of the Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD), told The Telegraph that the officials of the Airports Authority of India have inspected the airport area and directed the officials of the construction companies to complete the work by September 17.

“The construction of runway and terminal building has already been completed while the work related to security, electricity and fire service are under way in full swing and likely to be completed within the schedule time,” said Rajkhowa on Friday.

A portion of the airport Pictures by Mukesh Kumar Singh

Rupsi airport built during World War II is spread over 447 acres and has a 6,000-feet runway, which can handle any type of aircraft.

Though the airport falls under a revenue circle of Dhubri district, the area was carved out and became a part of the BTAD a few years ago.

The Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), which governs the BTAD, recently handed over around 337 of the 447 acres to the AAI.

The airport’s location and proximity to Bangladesh, Myanmar and China is an additional advantage for the Indian Air Force (IAF) which has no air base in lower Assam.

Hence, the air force and the Airports Authority of India are jointly developing the airport for both civil and defence operations.

The proposed airport will be able to cater to the needs of air travellers from four districts of lower Assam — Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Goalpara as well as neighbouring states like Bengal and Meghalaya and also a part of Bhutan.

Both the nearby airports — Lokpriya Gopinath Bordolai International Airport in Guwahati and Bagdogra International Airport at Siliguri in Bengal — are situated at a similar distance about 270km from Rupsi airport.

Travellers have to face a lot of problems as they have to travel for several hours by road from lower Assam districts to reach either of the airports.