Ludhiana’s long-awaited Halwara airport taking shape amid villagers’ complaints of ‘unfulfilled’ promises

However, while successive Punjab governments, currently led by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and earlier by the Congress, have claimed the upcoming airport at Halwara to be an “international” facility, it will apparently take several years for it to become a reality.

The newly constructed “interim” terminal, spread across 2,000 sq m, will handle just 150 passengers initially (150 each for arrival and departure) and is expected to cater to just one domestic flight at one point in time.

The newly constructed “interim” terminal is expected to cater to one domestic flight at a time. (Express Photo/Divya Goyal)

While the work on the terminal has been nearly finished, the runway is still not ready. According to officials, it might take three or four more months before the first commercial flight starts operations from Halwara. The Ludhiana administration has set March 31 as the new deadline to finish the remaining work, but it remains to be seen if it will be met or missed like several past deadlines.

Inside the brand-new terminal, a signboard guides visitors to the “Baggage Claim” area, where a luggage conveyor belt has been installed. Other areas including washrooms, waiting areas and office rooms for the staff are complete but lack finishing. At some distance from the terminal, work is ongoing to recarpet the existing IAF runway to prepare it for civil flights. After missing several deadlines, the terminal construction has been executed by Himachal Pradesh-based firm Synergy Thrislington.

Pardeep Kumar, Executive Engineer, Public Works Department (PWD), Punjab, said, “The work on the terminal is nearly finished except for a few minor things. The work to overlay the existing runway is being done by the Indian Air Force, and they are likely to conclude it by March 31. The interim terminal can handle 150 passengers in one go. The operations of the airport will be taken care of by the Airport Authority of India (AAI). The PWD was entrusted with the construction of the terminal which has been completed. In the coming years, an international terminal to handle 1,000 or more passengers might be planned depending on the response.”

Inside the brand-new terminal, a signboard guides visitors to the “Baggage Claim” area. (Express Photo/Divya Goyal)

AAI officials say that any tentative date or month for when flights can commence from Halwara has not been decided yet.

The AAI’s Pankaj Kumar, posted as CEO of Halwara airport, said, “Since some works, including the runway, are still pending, there’s no tentative date yet on when flights would commence from Halwara. Some security clearances are also pending. Maybe in the next three or four months, domestic flights can start. There’s no plan as of now to start international operations from Halwara.”

While the AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora has announced that Air India would be commencing its first flight from Halwara soon, Kumar said, “We are yet to receive any official communication in this regard.”

Jitendra Jorwal, Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, said, “The civil terminal construction work is complete by 100 per cent and we will soon hand over the facility to the AAI, which would handle its operations. The substation, apron, horticulture, taxiway, lights, roads, etc., have also been completed, and testing is ongoing in coordination with the AAI. The issuance of a unique airport code, which is required to run every airport in the country, is also under process for Halwara. To ensure proper security, considering Halwara is also an IAF base and a strategically important location, we have also deployed Punjab Police personnel. The Government of India will decide when flights will start.”

While the work on the terminal has been nearly finished, the runway is still not ready. (Express Photo/Divya Goyal)

Aitiana villagers who gave away their land say ‘demands unfulfilled’

Though the airport has been named “Halwara airport” due to its proximity to the IAF base Halwara, the terminal site is located in Aitiana village, where at least 272 farmers have given away their 162 acres of land for the project.

Lakhvir Singh, a former sarpanch of the village, in whose tenure land acquisition was completed, says that none of their conditions have been fulfilled till now.

“We have an issue with the name of the airport. We had already asked authorities that it should be named ‘Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha Airport, Aitiana,’ not Halwara. It is located in our village, and we gave away our lands for the village’s development. Earlier, Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney had promised us that our village’s name would reflect in the airport’s name, but it hasn’t happened, and they have even put up the boards of ‘Halwara airport,’” he said.

“Local people will benefit only if our youths are preferred for jobs at the airport. Nothing of this sort has happened until now. We were also promised a special grant for the development of the village if we gave land for the airport, but it hasn’t happened. They have taken away our land, but now no one is listening to us despite our written pleas to CM Bhagwant Mann,” he added.

Mann had announced that the Punjab government would propose to the Centre to name the airport after Kartar Singh Sarabha, the Ghadar revolutionary from Ludhiana who was hanged by the British when he was just 19.

The AAP’s Raikot MLA, Hakam Singh Thekedar, said, “We are expecting that youths from Aitiana and other nearby villages will be given jobs on a preferential basis at the airport so that locals can benefit from this project.”

The inexplicable delay

Even as the Punjab cabinet approved the “international civil terminal” project for Halwara in December 2018 under the previous Congress government, and the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority took possession of 161.27 acres of land for the project in May 2020, the civil work was stuck for a long time due to a lack of funds.

A luggage conveyor belt has been installed. (Express Photo/Divya Goyal)

Although the PWD was allotted the work in December 2021, with the deadline to complete the terminal by June 2022, the funds were not received until November 2022, and the contractor stopped the work midway. Things moved only in December 2022 after the intervention of Mann and funds were released. It was decided that the entire cost would be borne by the Punjab government and that the AAI would reimburse it later.

The IAF station at Halwara is being upgraded into a civil airport, a long-pending demand of industrialists from Ludhiana who currently have to take flights from Delhi or Chandigarh.

About the airport

Interim terminal building area: 2,000 sq m

Existing IAF runway: 3,050 m x 45 m

Terminal capacity: 150 passengers (departure and arrival each)

New apron: 1

Total project cost: Rs 54 crore (two components: construction of terminal and tarmac area: Rs 27 crore approximately each)

Total area being developed: 162 acres

AAI officials say that any tentative date or month for when flights can commence from Halwara has not been decided yet. (Express Photo/Divya Goyal)

Progress of works

Terminal building: 99% (building completed; procurement of furniture, trolleys, etc., in progress)

Substation: 100%

Toilet block: 100%

Apron: 98% (earthwork on berms, etc., in progress)

Taxiway: 98%

Drinking water facility: 98%

Internal roads, lighting: 98%

Approach road to airport campus: 100%

Bridge at the entrance: 100%

Work on IAF premises: 90%

CCTVs: Completed

Security equipment: being provided by airport systems directorate

Signage: Partly completed

Parking (for 75 cars and 2 buses): completed

Security manpower survey: under process