Rourkela: The Rourkela Airport Action Committee (RAAC) is continuing its agitation demanding the upgrade of Rourkela airport to a full-fledged facility, as their indefinite demonstration entered its eighth day on Wednesday.
The protest, which began on January 1, centers around four key demands — upgrading the airport’s classification from 2C to 4C, transferring land ownership from SAIL to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and installing both instrument landing system (ILS) and night landing system (NLS).
Archana Satpathy, general manager (public relations) and chief of corporation communication of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), said that RSP is ready to provide land for the airport’s expansion and is also willing to hand over the airport to AAI.
“Despite former Union minister Dilip Ray’s initial discussion with AAI officials promising positive developments, we have received no response from the administration,” said an RAAC member. The committee’s attempted meeting with Union minister Jual Oram during his recent Rourkela visit also failed to materialize.