First it is that a second airport cannot come in Kolkata since one is already operating at Dum Dum. Then comes the ‘assertion’ that Kolkata’s present traffic does not warrant a second airport, never mind that as and when traffic soars, the present airport cannot keep pace with expansion, handicapped as it is with constraint of suitable space to build or extend new or existing runways.
These and more such roadblocks are routinely erected by the civil aviation ministry in Delhi, headed by Praful Patel on the path of Kolkata’s requirements. According to me, as I look at the news reports, the otherwise affable minister, the shadow-companion of BCCI supremo Sharad Pawar, is simply not interested in Kolkata’s improvement for reasons best known to him.
But now it seems, his objections notwithstanding, Kolkata is going to get a second airport, which if it happens may be located around 50 km away (or perhaps less) from where the Dum Dum airport is. Going by today’s ET, one likely place is in Howrah where the Salim Group is building a township, while another place suggested is close to Haldia.
The idea is to modernize Dum Dum airport as a cargo hub, while the new airport to be developed by private companies will cater to passenger traffic.
Though Kolkata’s present share of air passengers – some 35 lakh in 2004-05 – is not something that needs a second greenfield airport, experts feel there’ll be tremendous surge in the years to come as industrialization efforts in the state take off in right earnest. In which case no time can be lost to plan and start building a new airport in Kolkata.
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