Cooch Behar Airport

The defunct Cooch Behar Airport may come alive in September. All are counting days to see the airport functional again. The airport that was operational since the days of Maharajas of Cooch Behar State was in hibernation for the last few years. Not only the common people of Cooch Behar but also the entrepreneurs and members of business community were demanding reintroduction of Cooch Behar-Kolkata air service for the past years for massive industrialisation in this region. Before the last Assembly elections several top personalities promised that the air service would be introduced in April using this airport but that promise evaporated to the air. Meanwhile the runway was renovated and the boundary wall was constructed. Presently work is on to remove about 10,000 trees. Thirty buildings including the official bungalows of Cooch Behar SP and DFO will also be downsized for the easy landing of the aircrafts. Environmentalists and others came forward to voice there protest against indiscriminate felling of trees but to pave modernisation of the airport and to put Cooch Behar in the map of air services, the authorities are paying no heed to them. Come September, and get your airport functional again – if promises are kept this time. 

PHOTO : Tree felling goes on near Cooch Behar Airport.