Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale has directed the subordinate bodies to advance process for acquiring land to expand the runway at Dhangadhi airport.

Minister Ale gave such direction after inspecting the airport here Monday. He has sought immediate submission of a file in the ministry, mentioning the process for land acquisition. Airport chief Ramkrishna Bhatta informed that they were directed by the Minister to send a document in written about status of airport and need of new infrastructures for its upgrading.

“With the Minister’s direction, the Civil Aviation Authority would submit the necessary files to the ministry soon,” he said. For the expansion of the Dhangadhi airport, a total of 311 bighas of land is required. For this, 228 bighas of land should be acquired now. The airport has only 83 bighas of land now. It was informed that passenger pressure grew recently after the airport began conducting flight in the hilly areas.