Cooch Behar Airport
COOCH BEHAR, Aug. 8: Re-introduction of Air service between Kolkata and Cooch Behar will not be possible in this year and it is also uncertain when the Cooch Behar Airport will become operational again. This news shocked many and sharp reactions came from different quarters in Cooch Behar. Not only the CPI-M but also the Congress and Trinamul Congress are planning to take up the issue with the Union civil aviation minister Mr Praful Patel. They are also seeking help of state chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Union information and broadcasting minister Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munsi to take an initiative to convince the Union government to reconsider the plan.
Earlier, before the Assembly elections it was declared that the proposed air service might begin in mid-April. Recently the date was differed to September. But on last Thursday the Union civil aviation minister reportedly told at the Parliament that the work to modernise the Cooch Behar airport is progressing and flights will be introduced in next year. This announcement created furore among concerned people because no specific date was declared for the proposed air service.
President of Cooch Behar District Trinamul Congress Mr Rabindra Nath Ghosh said that the concerned authorities cheated the people of Cooch Behar before the Assembly elections to get mileage in favour of CPI-M and Congress. These leaders and some officials visited the airport and assured that it will be operational from 15 April. Not only this – the state chief minister too said that the air service would start in September. At last the Union minister broke the pot by saying that the air service may start in next year. On the otherhand, the airport authorities and the district administration started a drive to eliminate hundreds of trees and downsizing a number of buildings. This is nothing but buying milk-can before buying cows, Mr Ghosh retorted. He said that the Trinamul Congress would send a mass-signatured memorandum to the Union civil aviation minister demanding immediate reintroduction of air service through the renovated Cooch Behar Airport.
A senior member of All India Congress Committee, Mrs Sabita Roy already sent a memorandum to the concerned authorities. She complained against the demolition of buildings and uprooting of age-old trees. In a letter addressed to the district magistrate yesterday she mentioned that she had requested him earlier that felling of trees should be stopped till other requirements for landing of aeroplanes are completed. But “with lightning speed the trees were felled and carried over”, she alleged. “What harm would have been done if those trees were allowed to breathing till the last moment”, she questioned. []
