PAC to help AAI reclaim encroached land at Lucknow airport   

The Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary will assist the Airport Authority of India in vacating 20 acres of encroached land at the Lucknow airport.

lucknow Updated: Jan 17, 2018 13:16 IST
The land has been encroached upon by some locals who are using it for agriculture. They have not been allowing AAI staff to enter the area for soil testing.
The land has been encroached upon by some locals who are using it for agriculture. They have not been allowing AAI staff to enter the area for soil testing. (HT)

The Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) will assist the Airport Authority of India (AAI) in vacating 20 acres of encroached land at the Lucknow airport.

Bigger crafts like Boeing 747-757 unable to land in city
  • A Lucknow airport official said that a runway of at least 3,500 metres length is required for operating bigger planes. The runway at Lucknow airport is just 2,800 metres long, thus allowing only mid-size aircrafts to operate here.

The AAI is expanding various facilities at the airport, as part of which it had planned constructing an apron and a cargo building on this 20-acre land available near the Air Traffic Control (ATC) office.

However, the land has been encroached upon by some locals who are using it for agriculture. They have not been allowing AAI staff to enter the area for soil testing.

So, on Airport Authority’s request, the district administration has sent two companies of PAC to help free up the land and prevent any sort of law and order situation from arising. 

Meanwhile, the process of land acquisition for runway extension is also going on at the airport. At present, the runway is just 2,800 metres long, which is not enough to allow for the landing of bigger crafts. The length of the runway has to be at least 3,500m for these aircrafts to be able to land in Lucknow.

Director airport AK Sharma said, “Acquisition of 70 acres of land (for extending the runway) must not be confused with the 20 acres that already belongs to the AAI. Terminal 3 will soon come up, engulfing the present cargo depot. So, we need this 20-acre land to shift our cargo depot to as well as to expand our apron area.” 

Terminal 3 is expected to be completed within three years. Meanwhile, efforts are on to acquire additional 70 acres for extending the runway and allowing for bigger crafts to land at Lucknow airport, which already has an ‘international airport’ status.

At present, the runway is just long enough to accommodate operations of mid-size aircrafts ie 300-seater planes with smaller fuel tanks.