Gaggal shuts against expansion of airport

Ashok Raina

Kangra, January 3

Thousands of people of Gaggal town and its suburbs today held a protest demonstration in Gaggal against the proposed expansion of the Kangra airport.

All shops and business establishments remained closed in Gaggal and Icchhi in its suburb since morning. People from all walks of life gathered at the main chowk of the town, the junction of the Pathankot - Mandi National Highway and the Gaggal - Dharamshala road and resorted to slogan shouting and demonstration.

A large number of women also joined the protest feeling insecure as they said they will be deprived of their houses and business establishments following the proposed expansion of the Kangra airport located two km away from the township.

The villagers took out a protest rally from Gaggal Chowk to Sanoura Chowk raising slogans against the proposed move. The protestors returned to Gaggal Chowk and held a public meeting which was addressed by pradhans of six affected panchayats, chairman of Gaggal Sangarsh Samiti Vijay Sharma and Beopar Mandal chief Davinder Kohli.

Various speakers at the rally said if the government was eager to expand this airport then the expansion should be restricted to Manji river in order to save the Gaggal township. They alleged that if the expansion was done beyond Manji river thousands of families would be hit hard and thousands of kanals of agriculture land would come under airport project, which will be a setback to a large number of farmers. They suggested that the expansion should be avoided in human interest.

SDM Kangra Jatin Lal said he has called the representatives of the Sangharsh Samiti for discussing the issue on Monday. The final survey was yet to be received and the authorities were trying to ensure that loss to the township was minimum. He said that people should not be swayed by rumors.

Located at the height of 2,492 feet above sea level and spread over 1,269 acres, the Kangra airport is equipped with Doppler Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Radio Range (DVOR). The state government has assured to provide 153 acres of land for the proposed expansion of the airstrip from current length of 1,375 m to at least 1,930 m to increase the capacity of apron and have an Instrumental Landing System (ILS). The state government has already provided 30 acres of land and remaining 123 acres were awaited for the implementation of the expansion plan.