AGARTALA, April 8 (TIWN): Adding feather to Agartala airport extension project work, Airport Authority of India (AAI) has taken up the Direct Project Report (DPR) to get it ready, said Tripura Transport Secretary Samarjit Bhowmik to TIWN.Talking to TIWN today Bhowmik said that as per the proposal of AAI the state govt. here has decided to provide an additional 4.61 acres of land to the ministry to take up the complete procedure of the extension work. Adding to it he said there would not be any eviction to the additional land as there was found no habitants residing across the 4.6 acres of land.Bhowmik said, there will be a meeting at Delhi with all the officials of civil aviation this month to take up the project work and in regard of better air connectivity. On the side line of another issue Bhowmik said, “Recently the state govt. has send an invitation to Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to come here and review the project work.” He said that the state govt. has already spend a total of Rs. 35 crore for the project work.

AAI has been seeking for an additional land for the car parking and other facilities as part of the extension of the Agartala airport, while the state govt. has already given them 72 acres of land amongst which 10.6 acres of land for the construction of the Terminal building during the first phase and 62 acres of land for the construction of Runway Street.

Earlier the state government has allotted about 72 acres of land to Airports Authority of India (AAI) to facilitate the Rs 300-crore Agartala airport up gradation project. 157 families were displaced from the southern and western part of the city airport. The families have been shifted to the land that AAI had abandoned on the other side of the airport along with a total cash compensation of Rs 30 crore.

The Agartala airport would be the third international standard airport after the Guwahati and Imphal airports. Imphal's Tulihal airport was recently declared as an internationalairport after its modernisation. Agartala airport modernisation project involves upgrading of the runway and aprons, construction of six aerobridges, three elevators and two escalators besides walkways to connect the international arrival and departure levels.The airports are being made international as part of India's "Look East" policy to boost the northeast region's connectivity and trade with Southeast Asia.