Assam: The proposed greenfield airport in southern Assam’s Cachar district seems to be slowly turning into a source of major embarrassment for the Assam government. Soon after it emerged that the Ministry of Civil Aviation had not received any proposal for a greenfield airport in the district, Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev launched a scathing attack on the Assam government
Dev alleged that the state government cleared large tracts of tea plantations on the pretext of the construction of an imaginary greenfield airport in Southern Assam’s Cachar district.
Dev cited a letter from the Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, which stated that the ministry had not received any proposal for a greenfield airport in the district.
Taking to Twitter, the Rajya Sabha MP said that she had written to Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia about the sanction of a greenfield project. “I wrote to the Civil Aviation Minister GOI about clarifying the position about the sanction of a greenfield project and his reply says there is no such proposal.”
“Imagine ripping through the tea plantation and evicting those helpless workers in Dolu with 200 excavators,” Dev wrote on Twitter.
In response to an RTI application filed by a Cachar resident, the Civil Aviation Ministry had said on May 31 that it had not received any proposal for a greenfield airport in the city.
Notably, the Cachar district administration carried out a massive eviction drive, under the supervision of Special Director General of Police (DGP), Law and Order, GP Singh, at the Doloo tea estate on May 12 to acquire over 5,733 acres of land for construction of a greenfield airport in the area.
The protesters demanded the authorities to stop the eviction as the tea garden is the only source of their livelihood. On the other hand, section 144 was imposed in some parts.
The Doloo Tea Estate Save Coordination Committee has called for a protest on June 15 to oppose the action of the authorities.
