The scenic Pakyong airport in Sikkim, at a height of 4,646 feet, was planned as part of India’s Act East strategy, opening up the air to new trade routes with Southeast Asia. But the airport hasn’t seen a flight take off since June after SpiceJet stopped its flights from Kolkata, citing operational constraints’.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) had said the airport would be operational by October-end, but that date has passed. The greenfield airport faces many issues, including deteriorating land conditions and shortcomings in the engineering work and drainage from the airstrip.

Inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2018 under the UDAN regional connectivity scheme (RCS), Pakyong, being a VFR (visual flight rules) airport, was flagged off without the mandatory instrumental landing facilities. This has become its bane, with the inclement weather conditions in the hills. A senior government official, refusing to be quoted, asks, What was the reason to rush it through? He also provides the answerThe 2019 general election and the Northeast vote bank.

The airport was built by cutting a huge mass out of a hill without provision for a retaining wall. The base was reinforced with a Gabion wall (stacked stone-filled gabions) up to a height of 300 feet, but without a strong foundation. This resulted in differential subsidence (sudden sinking or gradual downward settling)’ of the land on the airstrip as well as airport, says a senior engineer of the Sikkim government, requesting anonymity.

The results are already showing with the land undulating in places. Even the airstrip is not a smooth surface any more. Technical experts says the differ­ential subsidence is causing cracks in the upper hills, making the land prone to landslides. The defect in constructing the wall has also affected 52 acres of land on an adjacent hill and 37 families have already sought legal redress.

The overruns have doubled project cost estimates from the initial Rs 300 crore. The Centre has agreed to give Rs 20 crore as compensation to aff­ected families, instead of the Rs 86 crore they have demanded. It will clearly not be enough. Meanwhile, PWD officials say the width of the airstrip has also been comprom­ised. The AAI had plans to fill up the subsidence with light fly-ash to maintain the surface, but technical experts say this is not a permanent solution when the foundation is faulty.