Poor visibility brings Bagdogra airport to a halt - VIPs unable to fly back

After attending the Global Bengal Business Summit of Bengal chief minister to boost industries in her state, some VIP guests were unable to fly to Bagdogra due to poor visibility at the airport which affected both take-off and landing. This resulted in inconveniencing nearly 4,000 people including Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay who was one of the VIP guests. He had taken a flight from Calcutta to Bagdogra after attending the Global Bengal Business Summit but had to return to the city because his flight could not land.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 10 January 2016.

Apart from the Prime Minister of Bhutan, others affected were Darjeeling's BJP MP S.S. Ahluwalia and Union micro, small and medium enterprises minister Kalraj Mishra.
Airport officials have indicated that installing an ILS could enable planes to land and take off even if visibility is around 350 metres. ILS is a ground-based technology that guides an aircraft through a combination of radio signals and high-intensity lighting arrays to enable safe landing and take-off. However, in order to put it in place some land is necessary - but, 1.28 acres of the 24.16 acres necessary for the project has not yet been acquired because of resistance from five families.

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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