Aizawl, Mar 10, 2025, IANS

Aizawl, March 10 (IANS) Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma on Monday said the state government is preparing the draft of the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) as part of the government’s consideration to hand over the state's lone airport to the Indian Air Force (IAF). Lengpui Airport, which is owned and managed by the state government, was built in 1998 and is located approximately 30 km north of Aizawl. Replying to a question from opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) member K. Laldawngliana in the Assembly, Lalduhoma said the working committee to look into the maintenance and management of the Lengpui airport is drafting the MoA. After preparation of the MoA draft, it would be submitted to the state government and then the cabinet would discuss the matter and take a final decision, he said. Lalduhoma said that consultations with various NGOs and the NGO Coordination Committee (NGOCC) were held in this regard. He told the house that the government has recently allocated Rs 86 crore for renovating and upgrading the runway and other necessary development works of the airport. The Chief Minister also told the house that the government would expand helicopter services across the state wherever it is necessary. The Chief Minister’s finance and planning adviser T.B.C. Lalvenchhunga earlier said that the government is examining all the ways to modernise the Lengpui airport through the IAF. The issue of handing over the airport to the IAF has been heatedly debated in the border state for the last few years. Lalvenchhunga, also an MLA, claimed that the previous Mizo National Front (MNF) and the Congress governments have tried several times to hand over the airport to other agencies due to maintenance challenges and expenditure. Mizoram's influential NGOCC, an apex body of major civil society organisations headed by the powerful Young Mizo Association (YMA), has earlier requested the Chief Minister not to hand over the Lengpui airport to IAF. The Mizoram Civil Aviation Department has earned over Rs 13.44 crore from Lengpui airport in the past 10 months of the 2024-2025 financial year. However, the state government cited a "huge financial loss" in operating the airport and that’s why it is willing to hand over the airport to IAF or any other organisation. In view of the ongoing ethnic strife in neighbouring Manipur, a large number of travellers of that state prefer Lengpui Airport, instead of Imphal Airport, due to security considerations to go to other parts of the country. Various flights connecting Guwahati, Kolkata, and New Delhi operated from the Lengpui Airport. According to state government officials, on average, the daily passenger movement is around 700 arrivals and departures.