Dhangadi, February 10

An equipment called VHF Omnidirectional Range and Distance Measuring Equipment VOR-DME is set to be installed to conduct night flights at Dhangadi airport with support from Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Technicians from the contractor company and Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal carried out a field observation to instal the equipment and the team also inspected the topography of the land acquired for installation of the equipment.

Deputy Director Sanjeev Singh Kathayat at CAAN said the land was suitable for the installation of VOR-DME. According to CAAN sources, installation work would be completed within a year. The airport does not conduct night flights due to lack of VOR-DME and many flights are cancelled in the winter due to poor visibility.

Dhangadi chief of CAAN Chhabi Singh Thagunna said 16 flights had been cancelled in the past two months due to low visibility caused by dense fog. He said that lack of VOR-DME had made air service ineffective. “Installation of VOR-DME will make air service effective at night and when the visibility is low,” said Thagunna.

The airport had acquired 17 bigahas and four kathhas of land last year. As dispute broke out over compensation, the land has not come under the ownership of the CAAN. Distribution of compensation was halted after land owners Yadab Prasad Joshi and Jaya Bahadur Bhandari filed a case at the Ministry of Home Affairs seeking revision of the compensation amount.

Thagunna said some land owners were trying to foment dispute even as more than half of the landowners had already been paid compensation.

“Some landowners have not come to receive compensation after two land owners filed the case thinking that they might get more money for their land,” Thagunna said.

He said the dispute had halted upgradation work at the airport.