Over 11 Acre Land Around AAI's Kolkata Airport Encroached By Slum Dwellers; Centre-Run AAI Files FIRs

New Delhi, Jan 29 (PTI) Over 11 acre land around the Kolkata airport, which is owned and run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), has been encroached by slum dwellers, officials said.

The Centre-run AAI has filed FIRs with the West Bengal Police to remove the encroachers from the land, the officials told PTI.

As per the AAI officials, slum dwellings are present in five separate pockets just outside the boundary wall of the Kolkata airport.

These five pockets, which are adjacent to the diverted Narayanpur-Kaikhali road, are spread across a total 11.073 acres land, they added.

These slum dwellings are made of items such as bamboos, they stated.

The officials said that the AAI is waiting for the West Bengal Police to take action over this matter.

The Centre had on August 3, 2017, informed the Lok Sabha that slum dwellers and other inhabitants have encroached 798 acres of land belonging to the AAI.

The AAI, which manages 100 plus airports apart from carrying out other duties, possesses around 55,800 acres of land across the country, the government had noted.

The Centre had said that the AAI has undertaken all efforts in an active manner to coordinate with state governments concerned to remove such encroachments.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)