KNI Airport: ADDA restricts high-rise buildings after DGCA ban
The Statesman | 13 June 2025
In light of increasing urbanisation on farmlands surrounding the Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport, the West Burdwan district authorities, in collaboration with the country’s pioneering Aerotropolis project, have initiated a month-wise survey to identify and address potentially hazardous constructions that violate height restrictions laid down by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Following calibration trials, the DGCA granted final approval for flight operations at the airport on 24 April 2015. In 2017, the statutory aviation authority directed the Asansol Durgapur Development Authority (ADDA), a state-backed urban infrastructure body, to ensure that no plans for high-rise buildings above 160 feet are approved, in order to prevent potential obstructions to aircraft operations.
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Although the Aerotropolis project covers 913 hectares, civil construction has been proliferating across an additional 1,500 hectares around the airport’s take-off funnel zone. Currently, at least a dozen 12-storey buildings are under construction within 1,500 metres of the runway.
Construction regulations near airports primarily focus on height restrictions to ensure aviation safety. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) enforces these regulations around airport zones. The AAI permits limited construction within 150 to 500 metres of the runway. Specifically, a building may be one metre tall for every seven metres of distance from the runway. For take-off and landing paths, this ratio is one metre of building height for every 20 metres of distance. Buildings within 660 to 810 metres from the runway ends are restricted to a maximum height of 12 metres, as per DGCA warnings.
“This is referred to as the restriction zone within the funnel area of flight operations, which includes a 30-degree angular exposed surface on either side of the taxiway arms,” explained an AAI aviation expert. In 2017, the DGCA stipulated that any building exceeding 30 metres in height within 30 kilometres of an aerodrome must obtain prior permission from the authority. The statute further warns that structures breaching height restrictions may be demolished under the Aircraft (Demolition of Obstruction) Rules, 1994. It also recommended that planning authorities use zoning maps to indicate permissible building heights in areas surrounding airports.
“We are conducting monthly inspection surveys in coordination with the district administration to prevent any violations of the DGCA norms. Detailed inspection reports are regularly submitted and recorded with the district magistrate’s office,” said Kailash Mondal, director of KNI Airport. He added: “We have not yet received any complaints from pilots regarding obstructions.”
Kabi Dutta, chairman of the Asansol Durgapur Development Authority, stated: “Since receiving the DGCA’s guidelines and stipulations, we have strictly enforced restrictions on high-rise buildings along the airspace corridor.”