Shillong: Travelers in Meghalaya are facing a mounting crisis. The expansion of Shillong Airport at Umroi remains stuck in bureaucratic limbo. Flight options are vanishing. Thousands now face expensive, exhausting road trips to Guwahati, nearly 140 kilometers away.
The current lack of connectivity hurts students, patients, and local businesses alike. Under the UDAN scheme, the airport previously offered routes to Dimapur, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Agartala, and Guwahati. These flights dried up once the government stopped the subsidy funding. Today, only limited service to Kolkata, New Delhi, Imphal, Aizawl, and Pasighat remains.
The Meghalaya High Court is now stepping in. Judges recently slammed the Director General of Civil Aviation for missing key deadlines. The court noted that nearly 45 days had already passed since work was scheduled to begin.
Deputy Solicitor General Nitesh Mozika told the court that the DGCA is working faster. He requested more time to finish the safety assessment report, which the bench granted. This document serves as the final barrier before heavy machinery can start the 18-month expansion project.
Airlines and the state government have also struggled to find common ground. Last year, the government tried to open new routes to Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. Negotiations collapsed when airlines demanded higher subsidies than the state was willing to pay. For now, the people of Meghalaya remain grounded.
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