Proposed Greenfield airport in Arunachal faces hurdles

The proposed Greenfield Airport at Hollongi, near here, is facing hurdle with an Itanagar-based organization opposing the move of the state government to appoint a nodal officer for the project.
The Greenfield Airport Land Affected Peoples Forum of Hollongi (GALAPFH), in a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister Nabam Tuki yesterday, has opposed the decision of the government to appoint a circle officer as nodal officer-cum-executive magistrate of the project.
"Such appointment of officer above the department of Civil Aviation, Land Management and District Administration will unnecessarily create misunderstanding among the stakeholder departments of the state who are looking after the much awaited project," the forum has said.

It pointed out that civil aviation was handling the entire correspondence between union Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Papum Pare district administration and land management department was looking after the land acquisition process on the ground smoothly.
"The land affected people are cooperating with the government and district administration since beginning for immediate setting up of this dream project," the memorandum said.
Further they added, "At this juncture when everything is going on smoothly, appointment of any officer as nodal officer for the project will undermine the working competence of other officers of the land management department, district administration and civil aviation department who have been discharging their duty efficiently from day one.

The forum also threatened to launch non-cooperation movement against the government in case their demand was not met, the memorandum said.
"The entire project affected land owners are against appointment of any nodal officer wherein the district administration and civil aviation department are looking after the project. Such appointment may cause delay in execution of the project," the forum added.