The Meghalaya High Court has directed the state government to identify a few pockets of land for the construction of a greenfield airport as the Shillong airport cannot be extended to accommodate the landing of bigger aircraft.

A high court division bench, headed by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee, said this while hearing PIL on the matter recently.

“The state, in consultation with the AAI or even the officials stationed at the Umroi airport, should make an attempt to identify a few pockets of land and, thereupon, the AAI may be invited to give a preliminary opinion as to whether any of such pockets would be feasible for a greenfield airport project,” the bench said in an order.

The bench said that once a land pocket gets identified as feasible, the acquisition exercise has to be taken up, adding that the exercise has also to be done discreetly to avoid middlemen jacking up the land prices.

The court, however, made it clear that it will not interfere or impose its will if both the state and the Union governments are reluctant to set up a new airport.