The controversy over a proposed airport project at Doloo tea estate in Assam's Cachar district took another turn on Wednesday.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, writing to Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev, said the Ministry has not received any proposal to set up an airport in that locality.
Earlier in an RTI reply, the Civil Aviation Ministry had also stated the same.
The Doloo tea estate issue has been in the midst of controversy for over a month after the Assam state government approached the owner of the tea garden to acquire 1,500 acres of land to set up an airport there.
On May 12, protests erupted in the Lalbagh division of Doloo tea estate when the district administration deployed bulldozers to clear the tea plantation in order to acquire the land for the proposed airport.
Hundreds of tea garden workers rushed to the site, braving heavy rain and ignoring the ban on large gatherings in the area. The workers raised slogans against the destruction of plantation in the garden. The state cabinet recently announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to 1,263 tea garden workers as a goodwill gesture from the government.
In a reply to a letter by Ms Dev, Union Aviation Minister Scindia informed that the Centre had formulated a policy in 2008 under which an airport developer or the respective state government willing to establish an airport is required to send a proposal to the Ministry.
Till date, no proposal to construct a new airport in Cachar district has been received by the Ministry, Mr Scindia said.
Ms Dev had sought clarification from Mr Scindia about sanctioning an international airport in Cachar district. She had also asked for a timeline of the project provided that the Ministry had already sanctioned it.
Doloo tea estate has a total area of 9,965 bighas of land. Around 1,900 workers work in the tea garden. A total of around 3 million tea plants across 21 sections of the tea garden would be uprooted to make way for the 'proposed' airport.
The tea garden workers have been vehemently opposing the acquisition which they fear would mean the loss of their livelihood. They have been demanding that the airport be built in some other place as the tea garden is their only source of income.
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