Nagaland: Rio’s ultimatum to ARTC to vacate airport land

Nagaland chief minister Dr. Neiphiu Rio on Saturday said that the Assam Rifles Training Centre (ARTC) would have to provide Nagaland with a new airport if it does not vacate the land belonging to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at Dimapur Airport.
Rio made the statement while addressing the media after a Cabinet meeting and Political Affairs Committee meeting held at Rhododendron Hall, Police Complex, Chümoukedima.
Responding to queries on the outcome of deliberations regarding the armed forces’ occupation of airport land, the chief minister said a committee had decided to take up the matter with the concerned central ministry.
He said the state government would seek clarity on possible alternatives, but asserted that if the Assam Rifles did not vacate the land, they would have to provide Nagaland with a new airport. “That is the decision,” Rio said.
A substantial portion of land at Dimapur Airport- Nagaland’s only civil airport- has remained under the occupation of the Assam Rifles Training Centre– 18.9 acres out of 140 acres, despite the land being under the administrative control of the Airports Authority of India.
The 18.9 acres of land under Phase–I involves construction of aerobridge, proposed parking bay for 14 aircrafts and helicopters from the present four.
The Assam Rifles is supposed to vacate to Shokhuvi while CRPF has decided to vacate the 8 acres it occupies and shift to Chümoukedima.
On January 7, the director of Airports Authority of India (AAI), Dimapur Airport, clarified that the 18.9 acres of land identified for evacuation constituted the first phase and formed a critical component of the airport’s approved master plan for phase-one developmental works.
The director stated that the ARTC was scheduled to vacate the 18.9 acres by October 2025. However, the process was disrupted after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), in a communication to the Ministry of Civil Aviation in September 2025, requested that 2.27 acres of the earmarked land be retained “for the time being”.
According to MHA, the request was made due to the presence of an approach road to family accommodation, underground water supply infrastructure, and two transformers located on the said portion of land. Following the MHA’s communication, the Ministry of Civil Aviation informed AAI Dimapur Airport, pursuant to which a committee was constituted in December to examine the issue.
AAI Dimapur, however, conveyed its position on January 6, 2026, stating that the land could not be spared as it was integral to the implementation of the first phase of the airport expansion under the approved master plan. Instead, AAI suggested that the facilities presently located on the land be shifted to alternative locations.
The matter has been repeatedly highlighted in several reports and taken up by the state government, civil society organisations, and urban local bodies, all of whom have called for the immediate clearance of the land in the larger public interest.