Delhi dreams longest runway, but village roadblock

New Delhi: Come 2008, Delhi will get its third runway strip--4,430 meters long Code-F standard, capable of accommodating the dream aircraft A380. Also, with CAT IIIB Instrument Landing System (ILS) to boot, Delhi will boast of one of the longest runways in Asia.
But all this will take shape only when the 20,000 residents of Nangal Dewat, which is situated right next to the airport, move out. The villagers have been offered a location in D block, Vasant Kunj adjacent to the National Plant Quarantine Station. But residents of this nearly 300-year-old village are not impressed. With barricades all around, drains choked with debris just outside their village, residents say they will not yield an inch of their ancestral land because they feel the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been 'unfair' to them.
The DDA has sent several notices asking the villagers to vacate. In response, the villagers went to the High Court seeking proper rehabilitation and compensation and the court issued a stay order. The next hearing is on April 13.
06/04/07 Anubhuti Vishnoi/Delhi Newsline

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Categories: Airports Apr 2007