On the delay in making Chandigarh International Airport fully functional, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday said that the Centre appears to be treating Punjab and Haryana as colonies.

As the case of making Chandigarh International Airport functional came up for resumed hearing, the Bench of Justice SS Saron and Justice Harinder Singh Sidhu said that States were being given step-motherly treatment at the hands of the Centre.

Speaking for the Bench, Justice Saron said that the viability of having an international airport here should have been seen before dislodging the villages and creating the infrastructure. Now when Rs 1400 crore were spent and 320 villages dislocated, it was disheartening for the region.

In response to the assertions, the Secretary, Civil Aviation, said that the airport was not built for a few flights, but for the next “30, 40, 50 years”. He said that the first major part of setting up the airport had happened. He added in case they had undertaken the issues of expansion, installation of CAT III system for landing during winters and negotiation with airlines, another five years would have gone by; and the authorities concerned would still have been blamed for delaying things.

Referring to the demand for early installation of CAT III, he said additional land beyond the airstrip was required to be acquired for installing the lights.

The issue of expanding the airport would require meeting with the Union Ministry of Defence and the

 Air force and substantial amounts of funds

would also be an issue.

Making the Ministry of Defence a party to the PIl,

 the High Court has directed for early resolution

of issues