IB sees security threat, but airport village says it won’t shift again

New Delhi: After a recent security audit conducted by the Intelligence Bureau, Mehram Nagar village, on the periphery of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, has been listed as a security threat
to the airport. While the IB report recommends relocation of the village for the safety and security of the airport, the villagers — mostly employed at the airport — are not ready to budge from the land allotted to them in 1965.
The Delhi government was informed of the IB report and asked to take action on the relocation of Mehram Nagar village at a recent meeting chaired by Union Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar on airport-related matters. “Besides security threat, the village is causing a bird menace to the airport due to unauthorised slaughter houses and pig farms. Further, the village leads to traffic congestion on the side of the airport,” the Delhi government was informed at the meeting.
At least 100 acres of village land, owned by the Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB), also houses a quick response base of the prestigious National Security Guard (NSG), and one of the five operating bases of the highly secretive Aviation Research Centre (ARC) of the R&AW.
While the village — set up by the DCB in 1965 after relocating villagers from another site of the airport — initially had 60 houses, there have been massive encroachments in the recent past; the area now has around a thousand houses. Several of these encroachments are on the land allotted to the NSG.
14/05/10 Geeta Gupta/Express India

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports May 2010, Safety May 2010